CONTEXT
The famous Cantigas de Santa Maria, are an impressive illuminated collection of four hundred and twenty-six works of music. Completed in the second half of the thirteenth century, this remarkable work was written in Galician and is now attributed to King Alfonso X the Learned (1252 – 1284).
Alfonso X possessed indeed a very gifted and much learned personality but there are also reasons to connect the emergence of such a work of music with the revival of the cult to Virgin Mary in Western Europe.
The cult to Virgin Mary was partially on the wane during the times of the Carolingian dynasty but revived due to the popularization of Holy Mary’s miracles through troubadour poetry.
It is also important to note that in Spain up to the mid fifteenth century every monophonic work of music treating worldly (lyrical, epical or satiric) or religious topics (as is the case with the songs dedicated to Virgin Mary) was called “cantiga”.
The medieval miniature which inspired this Contemporary Antique Masterwork (33 x 25 cm. approx.), done with tempera on a primed wooden basis, illustrates song (cantiga) 172 from Códice Rico (Ms.T.I.1), preserved at the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. This is the fourth from the six vignettes which decorate the illuminated song page.
The text narrates the story about Virgin Mary who calms a sea storm thus answering the prayer of a merchant on a small ship loaded with goods. Sailing the favorable wind the ship reaches Acre on the following morning even though all the sails are torn.
The composition from the panel recreates the selling of goods in the market of Acre. The plot is conventional. There are two stalls under a high Roman arcade supported by cylindrical columns with floral capitals. A group of women count their money around the bare one. At the second stall, heavily covered with various goods, one of the women is already buying a beautiful material from the merchant. In the upper part of the composition two men and two women with bonnets on their heads observe the trade from a higher outer gallery.
All these elements and details recreate a realistic and convincing plot, masterly interpreted by an author endowed with rich visual sensitivity.
The technique is understood as the accumulation of means and devices used by the author to realize his/her work. It could be specifically presented within the following major points.
1.- The work was done manually by the author without the implementation of any industrial procedures. The most adequate materials were used in order to arrive at an original master work with the looks and characteristics almost adequate to those of the model of inspiration.
2.- The wooden basis on which the drawing was manually done was repeatedly treated with bone-glue solution. To the glue a specific proportion of chalk was added. The resultant homogeneous prime was used to level out the drawing surface.
3.- The next stage included the transfer of the author’s drawing which interpreted the respective miniature from Cantigas de Santa Maria and its further development with the help of red Armenian bolus (poliment).
4.- With the pictorial development of the work the colors were added from dark to light and finally the forms were emphasized with a black contour.
5.- The last stage included the laying of a protective and aging patina, which contains wax, turpentine asphalt (betun and raw linseed oil). After partial drying of this covering the surface of the work was polished with the help of a small woolen cloth. As a result certain pictorial effects were also achieved.