Iconografía de San Pedro y propaganda papal en la pintura gótica: Pedro y Simón el Mago como imagen de la confrontación del papa aviñonés y el anti-papa romano. Un ejemplo catalano-aragonés del siglo XIV

Abstract

A panel painting of Spanish origin, probably Catalan, in the Musées Royaux d'Art de Bruxelles was made around 1328. Devoted to St. Peter, it demonstrates English influence in its formal aspects. The distribution of the episodes that form the iconographic cycle follows a traditional model in which the titular saint, dressed as bishop of Rome, is surrounded by eight scenes of his life and death. There is particular emphasis on those episodes related to the confrontation between St. Peter and Simon Magus and to the consecration of St. Clement as successor to the apostle in the Roman see. These scenes, beyond their purely iconographic significance, convey a propagandistic program. The legitimacy of the Avignonese Pope John XXII is contrasted with that of his competitor, the antipope Nicholas V, installed in the Roman see with the aid of Emperor Louis of Bavaria. A triple parallel is established between St. Peter and John XXII, as legitimate patriarchs of the church; between Simon Magus and Nicholas V, as agents of simoniac and illegitimate powers, which opposed and fought against the true church; and between the Roman emperor and Emperor Louis of Bavaria as political leaders who, in the time of St. Peter as well as in the time of John XXII, supported simoniac claims against the interests of the legitimate church.