Manhattan, The Camino, and the Romanesque Magnificence

[scruffy1]

What could possibly be the connection between Manhattan, The Camino, and the Romanesque - quite right, the Cloisters up on the border with Brooklyn come to mind, good but no brass ring! The Camino stretches throughout Europe bringing with it pilgrims of course, artisans, merchants, and a bevy of workmen and artists, and not to forget flimflam experts of all sorts. One of these artists remains anonymous; we have only the title the Master of Cabestany, a man who sculpted magnificently all along the pilgrim routes stretching from Rome to Santiago. His hand has been identified on alter decorations and column capitals of churches in Tuscany, in the Aude of France as well as Languedoc, Roussillon, Catalunya, and the Basque country. One of his finest was in a church located in the now abandoned village once called Errondo, located some 20 kilometers south of Pamplona near the present village of Unciti. The tympanum of this church is magnificent, showing the Temptation of Christ, but to bring us back to Manhattan, the piece is now on display in the Cloisters. The Cloisters offer a cheap trip to Europe, well, cheaper than flying and a sneak preview of what the Camino has to offer.

See it here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11967895@N05/3289857492

 

[peregrina2000]

Scruffy, I think this is part of the Cloisters permanent collection, at least as far as I can tell. Intriguing historical document suggests that the two pieces (tympanum and lintel) are not from the same place.

https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/journals/1/pdf/1512721.pdf.bannered.pdf

But I confess, the length and detail of this study was too much even for a lover of Romanesque like me! Buen camino, Laurie