The Museum of the Ways of the Gaudí Palace presents as ‘Piece of the Month’ for May an enthroned virgin, with the Child seated on her, with frontal disposition from Truchas de Cabrera and dated in the 13th century. It presents the typical symmetry of this iconography in the Romanesque and is exhibited on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace.
The Virgin wears a skirt and mantle with shallow folds that are also visible in the garments of the Child. Mary covers her head with a mutilated crown. She holds the Child with her left arm and in her right hand she held a branch, now lost, which is rooted in the symbolism of the virgo of Jesse, with which the royal genealogy begins, from which King David also descends.
The Child, uncrowned, blesses with the right hand and holds the Book of Life with the left.
Exponent of the Romanesque Byzantine current, this block image, with arms close to the body and rhomboidal silhouette, in addition to its theological meaning, presents an anatomy treated with more emphasis and a more serene and sweetened expression than in other contemporary ones. This Marian iconography, the most represented, shows us with this piece from Truchas de Cabrera (León) its role as Sedes in Throno, more than mother of the Child Jesus. It exercises, mayestática, of God’s Throne.
The polychrome is not the original and was carved in the thirteenth century, to remain exposed to worship with its back to a background, so only the front of the piece is carved in high relief.
The markedly catechetical and pastoral character of medieval art explains that this iconographic representation is, with the Crucifixion, the one that, quantitatively, had the greatest development.
At the end of May, the piece will be moved, but will remain until the end of the year along with the rest of the works exhibited in the coming months. The Gaudí Palace extends from this month its opening hours and 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.
The Pathways Museum reopens this 2023 the Piece of the Month project to display works on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace, accompanied by an explanatory poster and which will be kept throughout the year to learn about works of art that are not shown in the permanent collection.