The MNAC deciphers some enigmas of Sant Pere de Rodes and the Master of Cabestany

BarcelonaIn Saint Peter of Rhodes Almost everything exudes mystery. The monastery rises like a colossus among the rugged mountains of Cap de Creus, with the sea at its feet and the howling of the tramontana wind. Next to it is the village of Santa Cruz de Ruedaswhich was hastily abandoned sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries. The marble portal of the monastery, which was a great medieval spiritual and pilgrimage center, disappeared. And the author, the Master of Cabestany, It is surrounded by enigmas. The exhibition Saint Peter of Rhodes and the Master of Cabestany. The creation of a myth, The exhibition, on view at the MNAC until June 29, answers some questions, but above all, it's a journey through a fascinating history.

The show explores a place steeped in myth and a lost portal, attempting to understand a disturbing artist, often called the Picasso or El Greco of the 12th century. To illustrate all this, it displays spectacular pieces. There are around one hundred Romanesque works of art, Roman sarcophagi, reused or brutally fragmented pieces, travelers' descriptions, dismantling reports, and testimonies of the recovery of the site's memory. Many come from prestigious museums around the world, some are being exhibited for the first time, and others have been recovered from orchards, farmyards, and cemeteries. Visitors will also see some recently discovered pieces, as well as previously unpublished documents about the dismantling of the portal.

The history of the monastery begins in the 10th century, when it received large land donations from the Count of Empúries. The church, which still stands today, was built between the 10th and 11th centuries. Between 1160 and 1170, the workshop of the Master of Cabestany sculpted the marble portal. The sculptor imitated the art of late antique sarcophagi and reused ancient marble. It was an ambitious undertaking, because Sant Pere de Rodes aspired to be a kind of second option. If a pilgrim could not go to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, they could travel to Sant Pere de Rodes. It reached its peak between the 12th and 14th centuries, when pilgrims from all over the world flocked to the Empordà region.

"It has been very difficult to recover the memory of the portal, because no drawings have been preserved and the descriptions are very brief," explains the exhibition's curator, Manuel Antonio Castiñeiras González. Based on studies of scattered fragments and old photographs, the exhibition suggests what the portal, which was dismantled in 1832, might have looked like. The monks had abandoned the monastery, and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, whether because they were fed up with so many years of vassalage or out of greed, decided to take it. That year, two bricklayers even built scaffolding to facilitate the work. "We have located the draft of a document, kept by a family from Castelló d'Empúries, that denounces this act," says Castiñeiras. Many of the portal's fragments were reused in the decoration of houses, buildings, and farmhouses in Selva de Mar, Puerto de la Selva, and Lanza, or were turned into boundary markers and cemetery crosses.

In the exhibition, for example, you can see how part of a capital from Saint Peter of Rhodes was reused to make a cross in the Llançà cemetery. Fragments of Saint Peter's body were also recycled. They were found in the 1970s in the Sa Perafita farmyard and had served as a boundary marker between the municipalities of Cadaqués, Roses, and Port de la Selva. "In Figueres, we found many severed heads, I suppose because it was easier to sell the pieces that way," says Castiñeiras. Among the heads in the exhibition, the snow-white marble head of Saint Peter, which comes from the library of Peralada Castle, stands out. It is one of the few almost intact fragments of the portal sculptures. It is not an ancient work of art, but it certainly looks like one. It was part of the talent of the Master of Cabestany. Another piece was used as the base of a dissection table.

The man who learned by looking at sarcophagi

Life in Sant Pere de Rodes during the 15th and 16th centuries was far from easy. The landscape was not like it is now; there were vineyards and olive groves, but attacks by the French and pirates were frequent, and epidemics were rampant. By the 18th century, only a dozen monks remained in this vast place. "The monks must have been negotiating their departure for a long time, and finally, in 1798, they moved to Vila-Sacra and, in 1818, to Figueres. We now know that they took everything they could, even the timbers, but left the shell behind," says Castiñeiras.

The exhibition began with the Generalitat's 2022 purchase of four 12th-century sculptural fragments from the monastery's now-vanished portal, which were put up for sale by three antique galleries. Specifically, they were two human heads—one with part of a shoulder—a lower fragment of a figure from a biblical healing scene, and a small piece of clothing. The four sculptures, carved in white marble, decorated the grand Romanesque portal and were deposited in the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia).

"San Pedro de Rodas has become a contemporary myth in the history of Romanesque art, a collective symbol or representation," says Castiñeiras. It combines many elements that make it appealing: an abandoned monastery, a romantic landscape, and the influence of the Master of Cabestany. "The exhibition also aims to be a reflection on history and heritage value within the European context," adds the curator. And it is an opportunity to delve into the understanding of "the most brilliant and internationally renowned sculptor of Catalan Romanesque art." "He is a Romanesque sculptor who trained by studying ancient sarcophagi, and not only that, but he also imitated the Romans' working methods. He is a Picasso of the 12th century," says Castiñeiras. Many pieces help to understand the sculptor's innovative approach, as he imitated ancient art to create new Romanesque compositions. The first to use the name Master of Cabestany to identify him was the historian Josep Gudiol, in 1944. From that moment on, Catalan and international historiography attributed works scattered throughout the western Mediterranean to him, from Tuscany to Navarre, passing through Languedoc and Catalonia. Among the pieces on display is the reverse of a sarcophagus. The sculptor used Carrara marble that had been part of an ancient sarcophagus depicting the Stations of the Cross, turning it over to create a new scene with Jesus and his disciples on the Sea of ​​Galilee. He also used a bust of Roman Hercules to create the body of Saint Peter, transforming a Roman tomb bench into an epigraphic cornice. Research has also confirmed that the sculptor used marble from Carrara and Proconnes, an island in Turkey. For the first time, the book of censuses of the Roman Church, from 1192, has left the Vatican. It is also quite exceptional that the capital of the atlantes from the Abbey of Mozac (France), declared a historical monument of France in 1908, is traveling. Many of the pieces shown in this exhibition, which cost 1.1 million euros, are from these sites.

"This exhibition opens up many lines of research for us," says Carme Bergés, head of the monuments and archaeological sites department of the Catalan Agency for Cultural Heritage. Much of the material and research will also be transferred to the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes. Starting April 17th, with The eyes of historyAn immersive visit to the monastery will be possible, and the facade will even be recreated.