The Museum of the Ways of the Gaudí Palace presents as ‘Piece of the Month’ two wood carvings from the 16th century from Lomba, a hamlet of the municipality of Benuza (León). Both carvings will be on display throughout the month of August in a prominent place on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace.
These two remarkable sculptures from the village of Cabreira have traditionally been identified with Saint Peter (image on the left) and Saint Paul (on the right), although they lack, due to the mutilations of their hands, the iconographic symbols with which they have traditionally been represented. St. Peter would carry the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and St. Paul the sword of his martyrdom. Likewise, they also carry the books that define them as disseminators of the Word.
They would come from an altarpiece whose unknown author resolves his figures echoing the influence that the main altarpiece of the Cathedral of Astorga and its author, Gaspar Becerra, exerted in the diocesan artistic environment and even outside of it. Saint Peter, with a long and curly beard, advances his right foot giving a sensation of movement that is lacking in Saint Paul, with a short beard and hair. Round figures with a broad concept of their volume, are dressed in voluminous cloaks and, as was usual in this period, the polychromy, very interesting, acquires an essential relevance in the sculptural work.
At the end of the month the piece will move, but will remain, along with those of previous months, until the end of the year. The Gaudí Palace can be visited from Monday to Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 hours and in the afternoons from 16:00 to 20:00 hours.