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Tomb Relief with a Bishop Giving a Funeral Blessing
(Medieval Europe )
This tomb relief served as the front of an altar in the village church of Torà de Riubregós, near Cervera in Catalonia (eastern Spain). At the center of the relief, a bishop blesses the deceased with words from the Mass for the Dead, "requiescat in pace amen" ("rest in peace, amen"), inscribed on the book held by the assistant at his feet. The bishop is surrounded by praying women, chanting monks, and grieving knights. The knights probably owed their allegiance to the deceased nobleman.
The use of paint, high relief, and crowded, animated figures with large heads is typical of late medieval Spanish sculpture. The sculptor may be Bernat Pintor, who worked in Cervera in 1378. Although none of Pintor's sculpture is known today, he apparently trained with Berenguer Ferrer (active 1340s-1350s) whose known work is similar.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Raoul Heilbronner, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1909, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 1962 | The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Report | other | |
| 10/17/1952 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 10/8/1962 | Treatment | cleaned; loss compensation |
| 6/14/1966 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 6/22/1971 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 9/27/1993 | Treatment | cleaned; other |
| 8/30/2001 | Treatment | cleaned; repaired; loss compensation |
Geographies
Spain, Cervera (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 26 5/8 x W: 66 5/16 x D: 7 5/16 in. (67.6 x 168.4 x 18.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1909
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
27.11