Abstract
Since the late 19th century the wall paintings of Sant Miquel in Terrassa have drawn attention due to their singularity. From the early studies of Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867–1956) to the present, both the iconographic program and the chronology of the paintings have fueled controversy among scholars. In particular, chronological estimates range from the time of Early Christian Art to the Carolingian period. However, a recent technical study of the paintings seems to confirm an early date around the 6th century. This new data allows us to reassess the question in other terms and explore a new possible context for the paintings. First, it is very likely that the choice of iconographic topics was related to the debates on the Arian heresy that took place in Visigothic Spain during the 5th and 6th centuries. Secondly, the paintings of Sant Miquel should be reconsidered as a possible reception of a larger 6th-century pictorial tradition linked to the Eastern Mediterranean, which is used in a very particular way. However, thus far we ignore which were the means for this artistic transmission as well as the reasons which led the “doers” of Terrassa to select such a peculiar and unique repertoire of topics, motifs, and inscriptions. My paper addresses all these questions in order to propose a new Mediterranean framework for the making of this singular set of paintings.
Highlights
The Church of Sant Miquel de Terrassa forms part of the complex of the Ancient Episcopal See ofEgara
This is, a titulus applied to Christ, as the son of a virgin woman and God. Both the presence of the titulus “Emmanuel” and the choice of the image of the Theophany-Ascension we find in Terrassa, should be interpreted as an affirmation by the Catholic Church before the Arian heresy that denied the dual nature of Christ
Since their discovery near the end of the 19th century, the wall paintings of Sant Miquel de Terrassa have been at the forefront of an intense debate centered around defining their iconography and dating
Summary
The Church of Sant Miquel de Terrassa forms part of the complex of the Ancient Episcopal See of. Since the studies of Puig i Cadafalch, the paintings of Sant Miquel have been the subject of a polarized historiographic debate between those who defend a Carolingian chronology (9th century) and those who situate them in the Late Antiquity To this end, the interventions carried out on the ensemble in recent years by archaeologists, restorers, epigraphists, and art historians under the aegis of the Director’s Plan for the Churches of Sant Pere have provided new data that leads us toward a later date—the 6th century. The interventions carried out on the ensemble in recent years by archaeologists, restorers, epigraphists, and art historians under the aegis of the Director’s Plan for the Churches of Sant Pere have provided new data that leads us toward a later date—the 6th century In this context, this paper is divided into three parts: First, it outlines the creation of the Bishopric of Egara, the discovery of the paintings of Sant Miquel and its iconographic interpretation.
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