Sorpe No. 2

image and permisson received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 30 December 2017)

Results: 6 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - lion - couchant

Scene Description: although some of the sources describe it as having a human face and being "about to jump", it is a commonly presence in the schematic rendering of lions in the Romanesque period throughout Europe, including the characteristic position of the tail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola

Copyright Instructions: image and permisson received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 30 December 2017)

human figure - male - orant pose

Scene Description: note the laboriously rendered rope-belt in such a sketchy figure

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola

Copyright Instructions: image and permisson received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 30 December 2017)

view of base

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2008 by Esteve García Antoñana

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 2 January 2018)

view of basin - front side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2008 by Esteve García Antoñana

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 2 January 2018)

view of stoup

Scene Description: the quadrangular object is wall-mounted on steel brackets, and a stone believed to have been originally a funerary stella

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola

Copyright Instructions: image and permisson received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 30 December 2017)

view of stoup

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 August 2008 by Esteve García Antoñana

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 2 January 2018)

INFORMATION

FontID: 02254SOR

Church/Chapel: Església de Sant Pere / Iglesia Parroquial de San Pedro de Sorpe

Church Patron Saints: St. Peter

Church Location: Sorpe, Alto Aneu, Spain

Country Name: Spain

Location: Lérida / Lleida, Cataluña / Catalunya

Directions to Site: Located off the C-28, Valls de Cardós i d'Aneu, in the Pallars Sobirà, not far from the Vall d'Aran, 7 km N-W of Esterri d'Aneu, Bonaigua road; in the municipality of Alto Aneu

Ecclesiastic Region: Diócesis de Urgel

Historical Region: Pallars Sobirá

Font Location in Church: Just inside the entrance to the church

Century and Period: 12th - 13th century [composite], Medieval [composite]

Workshop/Group/Artisan: oil font? / pica d'oli?

Cognate Fonts: The lion on this font has clear resemblence with the one on the font at Son

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Lander Sarasola and to Esteve García Antoñana for their photographs of this church, fonts and stoup

Church Notes: The mural paintings, some of which are now preserved at the MNAC in Barcelona and MDU (Diocesan Museum of Urgel)

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Described in Carbonell i Esteller ([s.d.]: 67) as a font with ornamentation that can be considered as a sample of very primitive art ["té decoració que podem considerar com a mostra d'un art popular molt primitiu" and as being a very interesting font with figural and other ornamentation (Buron, 1980, p.261). Mestre i Godes and Adell recognise it as an 'oil font' ["pica d'oli"], the type or early or Romanesque tub-like fonts which are found in the area of the Pyrenees and were often used to store the tithe oil for the illumination and heating of the church. It has been argued by some that they are the original immersion fonts, later used to hold the tithe oil contributed by the brethren to light and warm up the churchs. This one is ornamented with animal figures: a lion with a human (?) face in an about-to-jump [rampant?] pose [crouching, really]. It now stands on a stele (?) which serves as the base and which is decorated with a human figure (Mestre i Godes, 1999, p. 94) [the human figure stands face-front with raised arms, either an orant or an atlante; he wears a very prominent rope belt. Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XV: 156-157) where it is mentioned that there are traces of another animal, just the paws (?), or another animal on one other side of this basin; this source describes the figure on the base as definitely an orant, and compares the lion on the basin to the one in the font at nearby Son; this source suggests a dating to the Romanesque period, but it recognises the difficulty in dating these objects with any certainty. Cabestany, Matas & Palau (2005) suggest attribution to a local rural workshop of the late 12th or early 13th century. The composite object is now [2016] used as a holy-water stoup.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.652778, 1.079958

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 39′ 10″ N, 1° 4′ 47.85″ E

UTM: 31T 342620 4724045

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Number of Pieces: two

Font Shape: rectangular (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: rectangular

Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular

Basin Total Height: 38 cm

Height of Base: 54 cm

Font Height (less Plinth): 92 cm [calculated]

Square Base Dimensions: 30-40 x 17 cm

Trapezoidal Basin: 46 x 31 cm

Notes on Measurements: Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XV: 156-157)

REFERENCES

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

Cabestany i Fort, Joan-F., El romànic de la vall d'Àneu, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 2005

Carbonell i Esteller, Eduard, Art romànic a Catalunya, segle XII, Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1974-1975

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

Mestre i Godes, Jesús, Viatge al romànic català: les valls pirenenques, Barcelona: RACC Club-Edicions 62, 1999