Musée national du Moyen Âge - RMN
The Romanesque World  

Capital : Two episodes of Abraham's story

Capital : Two episodes 
of Abraham's story

Northern Catalonia,
End of 12th century
Clay
H. 0.37 m; L. 0.275 m; P.0.27m
Acq. , 1881
Cl. 19000


On an astragal formed by a thick torus, a circular based basket enlarges to form a square supporting the undecorated and strongly indented abacus with a die protruding from the middle of each face. In the top part, the faces bend in the shape of a shell separated at the corners by a semi-circle of architectural features. In this frame, two episodes of the Abraham story develop, each one of which is allocated two parts.: Abraham bowing down in front of three angels made of oak from Mambre (Genesis 18,2), and the meal served by Abraham, with Sarah listening at the entrance of the tent (Genesis 18, 6-10), on one side; the servants left with the donkey at the moment of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22, 5), and the angel holding back Abraham's hand, on the other side. The top half of Abraham’s bowed head and the nose of one of the angels are missing as well as the head of one of the sitting angels, a part of one of the servants' head, and Isaac's head.

The biggest part of the narrative space is dedicated to the story of the three angels, which takes up much space on the exterior angles, where the story of Isaac’s sacrifice is more concentrated.

This capital must have been part of a very complex narrative cycle, probably in a cloister judging by its size. It must have been, without a doubt, designed to be seen more from the side of the three angels than from that of the sacrifice.


 

 

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