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拍品专文
These two figures are engraved on the plinth with the inscription CAPILLA DEL REY CASTO OVIEDO which refers to a chapel in Oviedo Cathedral in Spain renowned for its numerous mannerist sculptures decorating the main altarpiece by the sculptor Antonio Borja (1661-1730) but also the various chapels.
The chapel of Santa María del Rey Casto is built on the site of the pre-Romanesque basilica of the same name, which was erected by Alfonso II (791-842) in the 9th century to house the pantheon of the Asturian kings. Whilst nothing of the original basilica remains, according to chroniclers of the time, the original structure dedicated to Santa Maria, with altars for San Julián and San Esteban, was 100 feet long and divided into three naves, whilst the mausoleum of the Asturian kings was located in the narthex of the original structure (the principal entrance being thus not in the eastern end, as is customary, but rather through the southern transept).
In the early 18th century, Bishop Fray Tomás Reluz (1697-1706) commissioned the construction of a new basilica to Bernabé de Hazas which was adjoined to the northern transept of the Cathedral in the early 18th century to become the Capilla de Nustra Senora del Rey Casto. Today, one accesses the chapel through a large ogival gate whose archivolt is decorated with sculptures of Old Testament kings, prophets, and Evangelists, whilst the tympanum shows the resuscitated Christ flanked by two angels.
The numerous statues within this extended decorative scheme, notably the resuscitated Christ and the angels beside Him, demonstrate clear 15th century northern influences equally in the present two figures (J. Gonzalez Santos, La Catedral de Oviedo, Leon, 1998, p. 60). Similarly the richly ornate fabric of their robes as well as the draping of their garments resemble that of the gown of the Virgin figure of the Virgo Lactans altarpiece whilst her sinusoidal stance seems to be echoed by the pose of Saint Catherine. This iconographical link between our figures and the decorative scheme of the chapel is further strengthened when we compare our Mary Magdalene to the sculpture of Saint Elizabeth in the Visitation of the principal altarpiece of the Cathedral. The bonnets of the two Saints, usually only found in secular northern art, show a distinct link which is heightened by their unusualness in such traditional religious iconography. Combined with the inscription ‘Capilla del Rey Casto’ on their plinths, this echoing in the decorative scheme and iconography allows us to emit the hypothesis that these two saints were either copied on existing figures now lost or perhaps were created with the intention of decorating the Capilla del Rey Casto of Oviedo Cathedral.
The chapel of Santa María del Rey Casto is built on the site of the pre-Romanesque basilica of the same name, which was erected by Alfonso II (791-842) in the 9th century to house the pantheon of the Asturian kings. Whilst nothing of the original basilica remains, according to chroniclers of the time, the original structure dedicated to Santa Maria, with altars for San Julián and San Esteban, was 100 feet long and divided into three naves, whilst the mausoleum of the Asturian kings was located in the narthex of the original structure (the principal entrance being thus not in the eastern end, as is customary, but rather through the southern transept).
In the early 18th century, Bishop Fray Tomás Reluz (1697-1706) commissioned the construction of a new basilica to Bernabé de Hazas which was adjoined to the northern transept of the Cathedral in the early 18th century to become the Capilla de Nustra Senora del Rey Casto. Today, one accesses the chapel through a large ogival gate whose archivolt is decorated with sculptures of Old Testament kings, prophets, and Evangelists, whilst the tympanum shows the resuscitated Christ flanked by two angels.
The numerous statues within this extended decorative scheme, notably the resuscitated Christ and the angels beside Him, demonstrate clear 15th century northern influences equally in the present two figures (J. Gonzalez Santos, La Catedral de Oviedo, Leon, 1998, p. 60). Similarly the richly ornate fabric of their robes as well as the draping of their garments resemble that of the gown of the Virgin figure of the Virgo Lactans altarpiece whilst her sinusoidal stance seems to be echoed by the pose of Saint Catherine. This iconographical link between our figures and the decorative scheme of the chapel is further strengthened when we compare our Mary Magdalene to the sculpture of Saint Elizabeth in the Visitation of the principal altarpiece of the Cathedral. The bonnets of the two Saints, usually only found in secular northern art, show a distinct link which is heightened by their unusualness in such traditional religious iconography. Combined with the inscription ‘Capilla del Rey Casto’ on their plinths, this echoing in the decorative scheme and iconography allows us to emit the hypothesis that these two saints were either copied on existing figures now lost or perhaps were created with the intention of decorating the Capilla del Rey Casto of Oviedo Cathedral.