Virgin of Sanaüja: Gothic Alabaster Sculpture in MNAC
Virgin of Sanaüja
Virgin of Sanaüja
Chronology
Second half of the fourteenth century.
Style
Gothic style. Author unknown. Technique: height (with chisel). Material: Alabaster. Forms: freestanding sculpture. Location: MNAC.
Key Features:
- Stylization, rounding, and lines.
- Humanized sculptures capture a certain naturalism in the gestures and expression of the faces.
- Concerns the capacity and volume of costumes and bodies.
- Elegance of movements.
This Lady is characterized by balance and harmony in the proportions; an effect achieved largely due to the curvature of the image of the Virgin, tilting toward the right. Composition and balance compensate for the sense of weight, causing the disposition of the child on the left. The folds of the robe and gestures of the two bodies also contribute.
Predominantly in all forms of sculpture are soft and curved lines, without right angles or sharp edges, which helps give the work a melodious rhythm and a flexibility that is backed by the relaxed position adopted by the Virgin. Her face shows a gentle and sweet expression, a serene beauty that has continuity in the gesture with which she caresses the child’s foot.
Everything reveals a fundamental change that had occurred in connection with sculptural art style periods precedent: if the Romanesque preferred an image of the Mother of God in a seated position with a lap and the boy with an attitude and severe static, the Gothic infuses the Virgin with great sweetness and expression. The face became friendly, and how to sustain the child, much more humanized in the sense of reproducing the gesture that any mother would make bringing her son in her arms.
The sinuosity of the Gothic image approaches naturalism and a conception of aesthetics based on feelings rather than on reason.
This work shows very clearly that the synthesis of Catalonia took place between the influences of France and Italy, countries where Gothic art was more advanced and had already given birth to works of great significance and perfection.
Iconography
This is the representation of the Virgin, crowned Queen of Heaven, holding in her arms the figure of the Child Jesus, who is holding a dove in his right hand. The appearance of this animal was very popular during the Gothic period and alludes to the childhood stories of Jesus. According to the Bible, once the birds of clay with which he played became real, and they took flight.
Meaning
The change, so evident in the way of representing the Virgin Mary that broke out between Romanesque and Gothic, was not free: an evolution in response to the religious sentiment that derives from a faith fearing divine punishment to the conviction that God is love and loves mankind. In this line, there was also a shift in the symbolism surrounding the sculptural image: the scepter that characterized the representation of the Virgin in the Romanesque was replaced by a caress, the severity became sentiment, the symbol of power transformed, then, into a gesture of affection. The same can be said that we wanted to convey the message: the solemnity of the Romanesque image evoked eternity and therefore marked distances with the human dimension; it wanted to impress and made it clear what the site was occupied by each. This conception has changed dramatically in the Gothic image; The Virgin of Sanaüja is a good example of this metamorphosis: the representation was to humanize ostensibly, become a serene beauty, and convey an infinite sweetness. The Virgin, without losing her dignity, approached human beings and shared their gestures, as a mother would.
This image has always been known as the Virgin of Sallent due to its supposed origin from this town in the region of Sanaüja, Segarra.
Function
It is a picture of worship that seeks to bring religion to the people, giving it a message of divine goodness and hope in faith. The new Gothic thinking, influenced by theories of Franciscan love of nature, took their evolved representation, leaving behind the pulpit to pass a simple function to show a relationship with Jesus more human.