“Visigothic Art”: San Pedro de la Nave

Although the architectural structure was questionably reconstructed following a relocation, the carving within San Pedro de la Nave merits examination.  The friezes offer examples of Visigothic ornament, but, more remarkably, the church preserves medieval art’s earliest surviving historiated capitals, preceding by several centuries the development of this form in Romanesque cloisters and elsewhere.

Surmounting engaged columns at the crossing of the church, the four capitals display four different scenes.  Those farther from the sanctuary depict Old Testament scenes on their main faces: the Sacrifice of Isaac  to the southwest and Daniel in the Lions’ Pool to the northwest. 

Inscriptions charge the Old Testament scenes with liturgical meaning.  The titulus for Daniel in the Lions’  Pool reads:

UBI DANIEL MISSUS EST IN LAQUM LEONUM

WHERE DANIEL IS SENT INTO THE LIONS’ POOL

The curious location of the event in a pool rather than a cave reflects the skewing of the story to prefigure baptism.

The titulus for the Sacrifice of Isaac appears more straightforward:

UBI HABRAAM OBTULIT ISAAC FILIUM SUUM OLOCAUSTUM DNO

WHERE ABRAHAM OFFERED HIS SON AS A HOLOCAUST TO THE LORD

But the label of the altar, ALTARE, encourages its assimilation to the Christian altar.

Labeled standing apostles flank each scene on the narrower faces: Paul and Peter flank the Sacrifice of Isaac and Thomas and Philip flank Daniel in the Lions’ Pool.  The two capitals closer to the sanctuary both show birds eating grapes on their broad face: here the capital to the northeast, and here the one to the southeast.  The narrow sides show unidentified faces: northeast, and southeast.

Flickr serves Spanish sites particularly well.  It has excellent exterior and interior detail shots of San Pedro de la Nave.  Other carvings in the church include column bases with Evangelist symbols, but only line drawings can convey their details.