Beuda No. 1

Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 19 May 2021)

Results: 24 records

cleric - priest - with book

Scene Description: In the first arch from the right: a priest is clearly identifiable from his mantle; he holds a book to his middle with both hands

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - 4 arches

Scene Description: three arches are well defined; the fourth, on the extreme right, is unfinished

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

design element - motifs - palmette

Scene Description: note that the palmettes are only carved on the fron, right under the finished figures

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

human figure - 2

under the unfinished arch of the extreme right stand what appear to be two human figures very close to each other; the scene is clearly unfinished, as is the arch in which they stand, and there is not enough evidence to define them as male or female, though they are confronted as if they were a couple

Scene Description: under the unfinished arch of the extreme right stand what appear to be two human figures very close to each other; the scene is clearly unfinished, as is the arch in which they stand, and there is not enough evidence to define them as male or female, though they are confronted as if they were a couple

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

human figure - female - frontal position - naked - hands crossed in prayer - snake at her right ear

this woman looks similar to the one in the previous arcade: she is totally naked and in the same frontal position; her hands are crossed in prayer but she has a smake at her right ear

Scene Description: this woman looks similar to the one in the previous arcade: she is totally naked and in the same frontal position; her hands are crossed in prayer but she has a smake at her right ear

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

human figure - female - frontal position - naked - holding snake with left hand - right hand to the face

In the second arch from the right: a naked woman who holds the body of a snake with her left hand; the snake appears to be biting her left breast; her right hand is raised to her cheek (Luxuria? or Eve?)

Scene Description: In the second arch from the right: a naked woman who holds the body of a snake with her left hand; the snake appears to be biting her left breast; her right hand is raised to her cheek (Luxuria? or Eve?)

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of base

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of basin - detail

Image Source: undated photograph by Merce Rota

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 19 May 2021)

view of basin - interior

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of church exterior

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of church exterior - east end

Image Source: digital photograph taken 20 April 2005 by amadalvarez [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda_esgl.StFeliu_IPA-9905_5044_resize.JPG] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior - west portal

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of church exterior - west portal

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25812.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church exterior - west portal - door - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25810.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church exterior - west portal - north side - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25804.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church exterior - west portal - north side - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25811.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church exterior - west portal - south side - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25809.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church exterior in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2009 by PMRMaeyaert [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beuda,_Església_de_Sant_Feliu-PM_25816.jpg] [accessed 9 July 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0-ES

view of church interior - looking west

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph taken by Tura Clarà, Olot, Spain

Copyright Instructions: Image and Permission received from the author via Montserrat Estela (e-mail of 8 April 2003)

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

view of font

Image Source: undated photograph by Merce Rota

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 19 May 2021)

view of font and cover

Scene Description: in 1920

Image Source: edited image of a B&W photograph taken in 1920 by Josep Salvany i Blanch [http://mdc.cbuc.cat/cdm/singleitem/collection/bcsalvany/id/6358/rec/70] [accessed 1 June 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0 "Còpia permesa amb finalitat d'estudi o recerca, citant la font "Biblioteca de Catalunya"

view of font in context

Scene Description: looking east, in the south apse

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2005 by BSI

INFORMATION

FontID: 02112BEU

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Church/Chapel: Església de Sant Feliu de Beuda

Church Patron Saints: St. Felix

Church Location: Pl. de l'Església, 17850 Beuda, Spain

Country Name: Spain

Location: Gerona / Girona, Cataluña / Catalunya

Directions to Site: Beuda is located in the vecinity of Olot, to the S it, 5 km N of Besalu, itself 24 km NNW of Gerona capital

Ecclesiastic Region: Diócesis de Gerona

Historical Region: La Garrotxa

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the SE apse

Date: ca. 1075-1086?

Century and Period: 12th century, Romanesque

Cognate Fonts: Compared by Ponsich (1967) to the fonts at Ur and Palau-de-Cerdagne, in France, just across the border. The female figure holding the serpent has a parallel in a capital from Sant Privat d'en Bas now in the Museu d'Art de Girona. Aomraga ([2009?]) suggests a relation with the font at Sant Joan les Fonts

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Tura Clarà and to Merce Rota for their photographs of this font

Font Notes: Click to view

Delcor (1973) describes the scene as a serpent speaking to Eve's ear. The hemispherical basin is actually adorned with what appears to be an unfinished arcade and its occupants; only three arches are completed, with three well-defined persons [L-->R]: 1)a priest dressed in ritual robes appears standing full front and hoding a book to his chest with both hands; 2)a naked woman standing full front, holding the body of a snake with her left hand while the right hand is raised to the side of her face; there is no evidence that she is holding anything in the right hand; the snake is at the height of her right breast and appears to be biting it; 3)a naked woman standing full front; her hands are raised to her chest, her fingers crossed as in prayer; a snake appears at her right ear. The fourth arch is only partly finished and contains what appears to be two undefined human figures close to each other; the rest of the side is unfinished [NB: the image of the woman with the snake at her ear is odd, but not unique in the area; a capital from Sant Privat d'en Bas, now in the Museu d'Art de Girona, has a related image: a naked woman holds a writhing snake in her left hand, the head of the snake is level with her face, at her lower lip, while her right hand is on her leg, knee level - Catalunya Rom. (1984: vol. IV: 398)]. The underbowl is adorned with acanthus plants arranged all around. The base is a short cylindrical pedestal. The font is fully described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. IV: 226-227). Bofill (1996) shows the female figure (full front, naked) clasping a snake with her left hand; the mouth of the snake is at the woman's right breast; the woman's right hand is raised towards her face; the accompanying caption reads: "Eva. Detall de la pica baptismal de l'esglesia de Beuda, s. XII, Sant Feliu de Beuda, Garrotxa". Noted and illustrated in La Garrotxa (2005), with date of the 12th century. Noguera Massa (2007) suggests an association of this master with the Rosselló workshop, and the palmettes with the work at Sant Pere de Rodes. [cf. Index entries for Beuda No. 2 and 3 for two stoups in the same church]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.23697, 2.70976

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 14′ 13.09″ N, 2° 42′ 35.14″ E

UTM: 31T 476052 4676128

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone?

Number of Pieces: one?

Font Shape: hemispheric (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Rim Thickness: 12 cm

Diameter (inside rim): 98 cm

Diameter (includes rim): 122 cm* / 132 cm**

Basin Depth: 60 cm* [approx.]

Basin Total Height: 76 cm*

Height of Base: 28 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 104 cm* / 110 cm**

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on site / ** Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. IV: 226)

LID INFORMATION

Notes: there are three holes in the surface of the upper rim, at the back, which must have held the staples of the old cover; at the front, at the upper basin side, there is a square hole in which the lock for the cover may have fitted; a similar lock hole is found in the Cerdagne, across the border with France

REFERENCES

La Garrotxa: els pobles medievals de Girona, Barcelona: March Editor, 2005

Amoraga, Maria Galizia, "La pila bautismal de Sant Joan les Fonts", [2009?]

Bilbao López, Garbiñe, Iconografía de las pilas bautismales del románico castellano: Burgos y Palencia, Burgos: Editorial La Olmeda, S.L., 1996

Bofill, Francesc, Sant Jordi: estendard d'Europa, Barcelona: Proa, 1996

Buron, Vicenç, Esglésies romàniques catalanes, 2a. ed., Barcelona: Artestudi, 1980

Delcor, M., "Les cuves romanes et leur figuration en Roussillon, Cerdagne et Conflent", 4, Cahiers Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, 1973, pp. 96-109, 4 pl.; p. 101

Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Catalunya romànica, Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1984-

Noguera Massa, Antoni, "Les piques baptismals romàniques a l'antic comtat de Besalú", 21 (agost-setembre 2007), Taüll, 2007, pp. 10-13; p. 10-11 and ill. on p. 11

Ponsich, Pierre, "Les fonts baptismaux d'Ur", Octobre 1967, no. 155, Jardin des arts, 1967, pp. 11-19; p. 11-19