Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya’s Romanesque Art Shines in Renovated Gallerie
BARCELONA.- The MNAC‘s collection of Romanesque art has reopened with a new museographic discourse which as well as the mural painting showcases other remarkable techniques in Catalan Romanesque, such as painted panels and wood carvings, as well as highlighting precious metalwork and monumental sculpture.
The new presentation also incorporates aspects to explain the origins of the collection and the technique for removing mural painting. Its interpretation also brings up to date the contributions made over the last 15 years thanks to research here in the Museum and by researchers in the academic world in general.
- Three visitors look at the sculpture titled, Figures del Davallament de Santa Maria de Tauell, displayed in the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC in Spanish), in Barcelona, central Spain. Santa Maria de Tauell is one of the Romanesque churches in the Boi Valley, which received the UNESCO World Heritage designation in 2000. EPA/MARTA PEREZ.
This exhibition is part of a partnership with the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid, taking advantage of the refurbishing work in the Romanesque Art permanent exhibition rooms, which were closed from 15 November 2010 to the beginning of summer 2011.
It consists of a selection of about 60 works from the MNAC’s collection chosen for their artistic quality with the object of presenting all the main techniques and subject matter of Romanesque art. In fact, this is the first time such a significant selection of works from this magnificent collection has been shown outside Catalonia, except for the exhibition held in Paris in 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War.
The visit is arranged in five sections, each followed by a presentation, which illustrate, first of all, the work as applied to architecture (mural paintings, stone carvings), and secondly, the work connected with the furnishings and other objects used in the liturgy (painted panels, wood carvings, precious metalwork and enamels).
To conjure up the setting for mural paintings, a reproduction of the paintings of an apse in Sant Quirze de Pedret has been prepared. There is also a virtual 3-D reproduction of the portal of Ripoll made in 2008.
Amongst the works that travelled to Madrid for the exhibition is the fragment of the Lapidation of Saint Stephen, from Sant Joan de Boí, the Batlló Majesty and a fragment of the mural paintings from the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza.
The exhibition catalogue contains articles by specialists in the field, an inventory section, ample bibliography and other documentary sections.
Curator: Jordi Camps, head keeper of the collection of Romanesque Art, with the collaboration of Gemma Ylla-Català and Joan Duran-Porta
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