El programa iconográfico del presbiterio y crucero de la catedral de Mondoñedo (1769-1773) y la reconstrucción de la “prueba perdida”

Abstract

In this article we deal with the sculptural and pictorial ensemble in the presbytery and transept of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Mondonedo, carried out by Francisco Jose Teran between 1769 and 1773. We propound its analysis from an iconographic point of view so as to, once subjects are identified, go into their symbolic values in depth. With this, our aim is to try to reconstruct the program —the “lost piece of evidence”— that justifies its choice. In doing so, we act according to the function given by E. Gombrich to the Iconology, that also demands to look for the concrete meaning that this illustrated story has within the context in which it appears. Of that way, handling visual and written sources of the period —standing out those referred to the frescoes by Lucas Jordan in the church of The Escorial, whose similarities with the Mondonedo program are, at least, strinking— and considering the Counter-Reformation teachings about the prerogatives of the Deipara and the spiritual progress of the faithful, we offer an interpretation focused in the Marian exaltation, whose last target is to remind the people the mediation that, in honour of their Redemption, Virgin undertakes between them and God.