Leon No. 2 / León

This font may have been originally from the old church of San Juan Bautista y San Pelayo. Usually referred to as "Visigothic", a dating supported by Assas (1872), who gives 630 A.D., and repeated thereafter in many sources despite its exagerated claim. The quadrangular font is claimed by some authors to contain four scenes: Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Flight to Egypt and Baptism of Christ in the presence of the Virgin all on three of the sides, while the fourth shows two lions face to face (Enríquez de Salamanca, 1990) and (Gómez-Moreno, 1979). The description in Viñayo Gonzalez (1987 c1979 is more detailed but not so clear with respect to the scenes. There are inscriptions on the upper part of each of the sides, except the one with the lions, but the inscriptions are either eroded or broken up (Viñayo González, 1987 c1979). Porter (1969 c1928) writes: "the iconography [on this font] is strange and savours of a time when Romanesque traditions had not yet penetrated into the peninsula". His description of the sides of the font is confusing: he refers twice to "the fourth face" with different scenes and describes the two long sides as south face and east face. Parker (ibid.) describes the scenes thus: 1)"On the south face is seated the Virgin, bolt/upright as in the frescoed figure of San Miguel de Linio, holding the Christ/Child in her lap. Behind Joseph stands on a stool, holding a book and a crozier. In front of the Virgin, John the Baptist baptizes Christ. Both the Baptist and the Saviour hold books; the Christ in small scale, but has a beard; two angels behind [...]"; 2)"on the east face [...] again we have the Virgin seated on a throne with a foot/stool, holding the Christ/Child. Behind her stands a figure with crozier and book, possibly in this case not Joseph, but the earthly priest. Another priest, on whose head perches the dove of the Holy Spirit, baptizes a bearded man in a font [...]"; 3)"the fourth face shows four persons in procession, converts I suppose, advancing towards a cross set upright in the ground. Each carries what I take to be a cross, the first is on horse/back, the last seems to me to carry a child"; 4)"On the fourth face are two lions, one on stilts, the other on the ground [...] they perhaps have reference to the name of León." Gómez-Moreno, in the Catálogo Monumental... (1979 c1925) describes the scene on the first narrow side as depicting three men on a row, carrying crosses and closed books; another man, ahead, with a cross, rides a donkey, all marching towards a tall cross ["tres hombres en fila, con cruces y libros cerrados en sus manos; otro delante, con cruz, montado en un burro, marchando hacia una cruz alta." His own dating is inclined towards the first half of the 11th century or, perhaps, earlier ["hacia el siglo XI, en su primera mitad, sin desechar como posible que aun sea más antigua" (ibid.]. A more likely reading of this scene is probably Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, although the Index of Christian Art [cf. Author Notes below] reads the scene as "Magi with Palms". Gómez-Moreno (ibid.) reports that the whole iconographic program on this font was reproduced at the Museo español de antigüedades ["Toda se dibujó en el Museo [...]"] and that there is a cast of it in the Museo arqueológico de Madrid ["y existe su vaciado en el Museo [...]"]. Franco Mata (2007) and (2010) informs on the set of casts of this font [="vaciados de la pila bautismal"] [M.A.N. inv. No. 50.125]: "El mismo cabildo de San Isidoro permitió además sacra la reproducción de una antigua pila bautismal que se conserva en dicha iglesia desde que en ella residió la parroquia de San Froilán y San Pedro, pila cubierta en los cuatro lados por relieves, que acusan claramente el arte latino-bizantino. Lleva en el frente principal la Virgen sentada en una alta silla con un personaje de pié á su espalda, dos leones luchando entre sí y un ginete y tres peones con insignias en la mano: los caracteres dicen: In Nomine Domini Maria Mater Dei et Joanne, sin que hayamos podido descubrir la fecha" [Franco Mata (ibid.) footnotes the source of this text as "Memoria..., pp.36-37, 78, no. 245]. Franco Mata further notes that the cast had been made under the direction of, and in part by, "Ricardo Velázquez", who was the donor of the the piece to the M.A.N. [Franco Mata (ibid.) footnotes the source of this information as: "Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, catálogo exposición, p. 73, nota 30, fig. en p. 79 y 380"]. Curiously Franco Mata (ibid.) indicates a preference for the 930 A.D. dating assigned by Manuel de Assas, although she admits that 1010 A.D. might also be considered, and refers to the recently published work by Fernández González [cf. infra]. [NB: an unknown source suggested that, instead of the Magi, the scene represents Zaccharias]. Dated in Bango Torviso (1989) to ca. 1000 by stylistical analogy to Spanish ivories of that date. Fernández González (2007) in her comparative study of this font in the context of the sarcophagus from Dumio (Braga, Portugal), describes this font as one of the best examples of 11th-century sculpture from the kingdom of Leon, and its iconographic programme of scenes of the childhood and public life of Christ and St. John as complex but perfectly suited decoration of this vessel for its purpose as a baptismal font. Fernández González (ibid.) offers her own reading of this programme, and she too [cf. supra] favours the identification of the male figure standing by the Virgin with Zaccharia, husband of Elisabeth and father of John the Baptist; for the second side of the basin she agrees with the scene as a representation of Christ's baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist in the presence of the Holy Ghost represented by the dove above John's head; at this point Fernández González (bid) proposes that the artist got its programme somewhat tangled up, and that some alternative hypotheses can be considered: 1)to to delete the haloes from the seated figures on side one and transpose them to the woman and child on side two; 2)thus side one would narrate two scenes from the childhood of John with his father in attendance, 3)whereas the scenes on side two would correspond to Christ's own Infancy cycle; another hypothesis suggested by this author is the possible representation of the baptism of Craton, and mentions its presence on the baptismal font at St-Barthélemy, in Liège, as a reference; side three of the font poses less doubts to this author, who suggests the triumphal entrance of Christ in Jerusalem; on side four of the font, the one with the pair of lions, this author notes the stilts on the lions' legs and suggests the 11th-century Muslim font or basin from Badis (Granada, Spain) as reference [cf. entry for Granada No. 4 in this Index]. Noted in Robles García (2007) as a Visigothic font ["pila bautismal visigótica"], although the caption of the photograph of the font actually reads "De datación incierta, la conocida como 'pila visigótica' se decora se decora con relieves evangélicos" [= usually known as 'the Visigothic font', it is of uncertain date and decorated with Gospel scenes]. García de Castro Valdés (2000) notes medieval quadrangular fonts in Spain at Beloncio, Bullaso, San Isidoro de Leon, Villanueva de Valdecarzana (suggested date in the 11th century); Armentia, Bustasur, Dosante, Gormaz, Quintanillabon, Rosales, Santillan del Agua, Soto de Bureba (suggested date in the 12th or 13th century); Ripodas and Turrillas (suggested date in the 13th century). Sonne de Torrens (2013) argues for a 12th-century date based on an iconographical analysis of the iconographic programme on the sides.