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Reliefs of the Massacre of the Innocents (reconstruction of the sequence of 4 plaques, including the insertion of the fragmented head of an infant in plaque 4), ca. 1170/90. Santiago Cathedral Museum
Source publication
During the restoration works and archaeological excavation carried out in the crypt of the Portal of Glory of Santiago Cathedral between 2017 and 2021 numerous pieces of its dismantled medieval stone choir were unearthed, including a series of reliefs representing the Massacre of the Innocents. This article analyzes the stylistic, iconographic, con...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... a particular feature in Spanish Romanesque iconography of the evil king ordering the Massacre of the Innocents. In effect, three fragmentary reliefs featuring soldiers, two of them killing babies, were also unearthed in the same section of the crypt confirming the attribution of all these pieces to a cycle representing the gruesome biblical event (Fig. ...
Context 2
... a daring experiment in visual narrative, which accords to the demanding goals set by Master Mateo for the sculptors working under his direction. Indeed, we see a succession of arresting compositions frozen at their dramatic peak, which achieve cinematic dynamism when we visually scan them from left to right as if they were frames of a film strip (Fig. 2). The narrative begins at Herod's palace where an armiger (military attendant), informs Herod of the Magi's escape, and points to the devil who, whispering in the king's ear, sets off the tragic events. As Herod unleashes his anger ordering the slaughter with a swift gesture, a soldier fulfills the command stabbing a baby with his sword ...
Context 3
... a conclusion to this section, let us perform a visual peripeteia through the constellation of images assembled in Figures 2 and 3 to get insight into how these artists work together following a set of designs for the realization of various sculptures to be then allocated to different parts of the choir and the narthex of the Portal of Glory. The thick and rigid folds of Herod's garment are comparable to those of an angel from the reverse façade of the Portal of Glory, and both of them find their echo in figures from the cloister of Tudela Cathedral (Figs. 2 and 3f). ...
Context 4
... preserve the plaque with three horses, followed by the Massacre of the Innocents whose composition, as I reconstruct it in this article, emphasizes precisely that directionality of visual reading from left to right as if we were seeing a succession of frames on a film strip whose scenes are arranged in an emotional and dramatic crescendo (cfr. Fig. 2). We may presume that the cycle would have concluded with the scene of the Flight into Egypt situated in the extreme south of the balustrade of the ...
