Speakers
Conferencistas convidados · Ponentes
Francisco de Asís García / Ana Hernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Manuscripts Across Frontiers: The Transit of Influences Through Romanesque Aragón Among the studies dedicated to Romanesque manuscripts in the Iberian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Aragón stands out as a field largely unknown, in a territory unevenly explored. This circumstance is probably grounded in the scarcity of illustrated codices and information on authors and production centres. Building upon preserved manuscripts, documentary references depicting a wider perspective, and a collation with the contemporary Hispanic artistic scene, we will try to further the understanding of book and document illustration in Romanesque Aragón. We will also examine its relationship with monumental art, engaging both manifestations in a conversation from which to delve into the dynamics of artistic creation. The pieces we have considered include a limited number of early medieval objects and a larger group of Romanesque works: the Bibles of San Juan de la Peña (Madrid, BNE, Ms. 2) and Huesca (Madrid, MAN, 1962/73/1), and a collection of liturgical books from the capitular archive of Huesca, together with illuminated documents from this same repository and the cathedral of Jaca. Some of them reveal contacts with other peninsular territories, but there are also evident links with the areas beyond the Pyrenees. The introduction of the Roman rite, new graphical uses, and melodic repertoires, which are simultaneous to the emergence of monumental figuration at the end of the 11th century, cannot be understood without the arrival of French manuscripts. Through the study of these artistic exchanges between the Kingdom of Aragón and its neighbours, as well as comparing manuscript illumination to the development of wall painting and monumental sculpture, reaching high points at Jaca, Loarre, Bagüés or Navasa, we will assess the incidence of book illustration in the formation and dissemination of artistic formulas during the 11th and 12th centuries. This undertaking will involve reviewing the associations between manuscripts and monumental art indicated by previous specialists, to determine how the illustration of codices influenced those artistic solutions on other materials. |