Spanish school; 13th century. "Saint bishop". Carved... Lot 7

Spanish school; 13th century. "Saint bishop". Carved and polychromed wood. It presents faults and damages caused by xylophages. Measurements: 118 x 38 x 27 cm. Romanesque sculpture of a devotional nature which still conserves part of its polychromy. The carving represents a saint, dressed in religious clothing and a headdress like a mitre. The back of the piece has not been worked, so it is likely that the piece was part of the ornamental decoration of an architectural ensemble. The carving is notable for the simplicity of its forms, the rigid technique of straight lines and the somewhat naïve conception of the face, characteristics that bring us closer to the Romanesque style, whose main purpose was based on conveying the message or the word, thus becoming a symbol, above and beyond superfluous details. Despite the faults in the work, caused by the passage of time, it is likely that the iconographic attributes that define this representation were found in his hands. Romanesque sculpture pursues mainly didactic aims, and its images are conceived as a visual narrative, which must always be clearly legible. At this time, prior to the search for naturalism that would emerge during the Gothic period, the language is purely conceptual, and works on the basis of symbols and conventions accepted by all. In this sense, anatomy is synthetic, representative rather than a reflection of the natural, as is the treatment of the face.