{"id":"cma-112174","titulo":{"en":"Mourning Saint John and Mourning Virgin (pair)","es":"San Juan doliente y Virgen doliente (pareja)"},"titulo_original":"Mourning Saint John and Mourning Virgin (pair)","autor":"Unknown maker / Autor desconocido","fecha":"c. 1250–1275","cultura":"Spain, Kingdom of Castile and Leon, 13th century","tecnica":"polychromed oak","fuente":"Cleveland Museum of Art","licencia":"CC0-1.0","licencia_url":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","credito":"Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Francis F. Prentiss","url_original":"https://clevelandart.org/art/1930.621","imagen_url":"https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1930.621/1930.621_web.jpg","ficha":{"en":{"titulo":"Mourning Saint John and Mourning Virgin (pair)","se_ve":"Two tall, very narrow wooden figures hang side by side, separated by an empty stretch of smooth, warm gray wall. The lighting comes from above and casts soft, dark shadows behind them, which heightens their sense of floating, even though each rests on a small, rough, worn base. On the left, the Virgin wears a veil over her head and keeps her hands tightly pressed together at her chest in prayer; her eyes are lowered and her mouth closed. On the right, Saint John supports his head with one hand pressed to his cheek, while the other holds against his body a thick, reddish book with raised studs on its cover. Both bodies are elongated and almost column-like, with long mantles falling in curved, shallow folds. The polychromy is worn and speckled: faded reds and oranges, very dark blue-black, a green sleeve on John, and pale, scraped faces where the wood and old paint show through. Small painted borders with repeated geometric motifs run down the garments. Nothing else is visible in the scene: no cross, no landscape, no secondary figures. The overall impression is of two fragile presences, frontal and silent, whose grief is held in their posture rather than in theatrical gestures.","contexto":"This pair, dated c. 1250–1275 and attributed to the former Kingdom of Castile and León, comes from the Cleveland Museum of Art. According to the museum, the Virgin and Saint John belonged to a Crucifixion group whose central figure of Christ on the cross is now absent. The author, the church or chapel they were made for, and the circumstances of their separation are not known. Although carved in the 13th century, their elongated frontal forms reflect a late 12th-century style. Their original polychromy has unusually survived, offering evidence of the painted finish that many medieval sculptures have lost.","como_mirarla":"Start with the space left between them, where the missing Christ would have stood, and then move to their hands: hers pressed together, his raised to his cheek. Notice afterwards how the eye, which expects plain wood, discovers geometric borders and tiny patterns across the red mantles. The contrast between nearly impassive faces and very expressive hands changes the reading of their grief.","dato_curioso":"The surviving paint is not only red and dark blue-black: along the edges of the garments you can still read repeated geometric borders, a painted richness that the museum compares to early textiles — the clothes were decorated like precious cloth, even though they are carved in oak.","preguntas":["How does the scene change when we imagine the missing Crucifix between these two witnesses?","Why might intense grief be expressed here through the hands more than through the faces?","What does the survival of the paint allow us to understand that bare wood would not?"]},"es":{"titulo":"San Juan doliente y Virgen doliente (pareja)","se_ve":"Dos figuras altas y muy estrechas de madera cuelgan una junto a la otra, separadas por un tramo vacío de muro liso de un gris cálido. La luz viene de arriba y proyecta detrás de ellas sombras oscuras y suaves, lo que acentúa la sensación de que flotan, aunque cada una se apoya en una pequeña base rugosa y gastada. A la izquierda, la Virgen lleva un velo sobre la cabeza y mantiene las manos muy juntas contra el pecho, en oración; tiene los ojos bajos y la boca cerrada. A la derecha, san Juan se sostiene la cabeza con una mano pegada a la mejilla y con la otra sujeta contra el cuerpo un libro grueso y rojizo, con tachuelas en relieve en la tapa. Ambos cuerpos son alargados, casi como columnas, y los mantos largos caen en pliegues curvos y poco profundos. La policromía está desgastada y moteada: rojos y naranjas apagados, un azul muy oscuro casi negro, una manga verde en san Juan y rostros pálidos y raspados donde asoma la madera y la pintura vieja. Por las ropas bajan pequeñas cenefas pintadas con motivos geométricos repetidos. No hay nada más en la escena: ni cruz, ni paisaje, ni figuras secundarias. El conjunto transmite dos presencias frágiles, frontales y silenciosas, cuyo dolor se contiene en la postura más que en gestos teatrales.","contexto":"La pareja, fechada hacia 1250–1275 y atribuida al antiguo Reino de Castilla y León, procede del Cleveland Museum of Art. Según esa institución, la Virgen y san Juan formaban parte de un grupo de la Crucifixión cuya figura central, Cristo en la cruz, hoy está ausente. No se sabe quién fue el autor, para qué iglesia o capilla se tallaron ni cómo se separaron. Aunque son del siglo XIII, su estilo alargado y frontal refleja modelos de finales del siglo XII. Conservan buena parte de su policromía original, algo poco frecuente, lo que permite apreciar el acabado pintado que gran parte de la escultura medieval ha perdido.","como_mirarla":"Mira primero el hueco entre ambas figuras, donde habría estado el Cristo que hoy falta, y después baja a las manos: las de ella, juntas en oración; la de él, llevada a la mejilla. Luego advierte que lo que parecía madera desnuda está cubierto de cenefas geométricas y pequeños motivos sobre los mantos rojos. Ese contraste entre rostros casi impasibles y manos muy expresivas cambia la lectura del duelo.","dato_curioso":"La pintura que se conserva no es solo roja y azul muy oscuro, casi negra: en los bordes de las ropas todavía se distinguen cenefas geométricas repetidas, una riqueza decorativa que el museo compara con textiles antiguos; es decir, las vestiduras se pintaron como si fueran telas preciosas, aunque están talladas en roble.","preguntas":["¿Cómo cambia la escena cuando imaginamos el Crucificado ausente entre estos dos testigos?","¿Por qué el dolor intenso puede expresarse aquí más con las manos que con el rostro?","¿Qué permite entender la pintura conservada que la madera desnuda no mostraría?"]}},"etiquetas":{"en":["virgin mary","saint john","crucifixion","medieval sculpture","polychromed oak","mourning","13th century","castile and leon","prayer","polychromy","late romanesque","devotion"],"es":["virgen maría","san juan","crucifixión","escultura medieval","roble policromado","duelo","siglo xiii","castilla y león","oración","policromía","románico tardío","devoción"]},"objetos":["Saint John","Virgin Mary","wall","book","veil","mantle","prayer hands","decorative border"],"colores":["#494745","#a03c2d","#2f3536","#b89a7d","#556454"],"animo":[],"epoca":"c. 1250-1275","certeza":"alta","advertencias":[],"capa":{"voces":[{"guia":"la restauradora","en":"I pause before the eloquent wear on these two carvings. I see scraped wood on the pale faces, mottled polychromy in muted reds and oranges, a blue so dark it looks almost black and that green sleeve on Saint John that still endures. I am drawn to the geometric painted borders on the mantles and the raised studs on the reddish book he holds against his body. Dated to 1250 to 1275, they have kept much of their original paint, which is very rare, and today they seem to float lightly on rough worn bases under a light that lengthens their shadows.","es":"Me detengo frente al desgaste tan elocuente de estas dos tallas. Veo madera raspada en los rostros pálidos, policromía moteada en rojos y naranjas apagados, un azul tan oscuro que parece negro y esa manga verde de san Juan que aún resiste. Me interesan las cenefas geométricas de los mantos y las tachuelas en relieve del libro rojizo que él sostiene. Son piezas de 1250 a 1275 que conservaron su pintura original, algo rarísimo, y que hoy flotan ligeras sobre bases rugosas y gastadas bajo una luz que alarga sus sombras."},{"guia":"el astrónomo aficionado","en":"I see them as two narrow vertical columns cut against a smooth warm gray wall, lit from above like solitary constellations. The empty space between them matters as much as the figures themselves, it is the place where the cross and the absent Christ should be. Their extreme elongation and silent frontality recall models from the late twelfth century, although they were carved around 1250. There is no landscape or drama, only contained posture and light casting soft dark shadows behind them, like quiet eclipses.","es":"Las veo como dos columnas estrechas y verticales recortadas contra un muro liso gris cálido, iluminadas desde arriba como si fueran constelaciones solitarias. El vacío entre ellas me importa tanto como las figuras, es el lugar donde falta la cruz y el Cristo ausente. Su alargamiento extremo y su frontalidad silenciosa recuerdan modelos de finales del siglo XII, aunque fueron talladas hacia 1250. No hay paisaje ni teatro, solo postura contenida y luz que proyecta sombras suaves y oscuras detrás, como eclipses quietos."},{"guia":"la niña de ocho años","en":"They look like two very skinny and super tall people who are sad and do not want to make noise. The lady on the left wears a veil on her head and presses her hands tightly against her chest as if praying and looks down. The man on the right holds his face with one hand and with the other clutches a thick red book with shiny little dots. Their long robes have little bands with repeated patterns and colors that look a bit scraped off. They hang on the wall alone, without a cross, and their shadows appear behind them as if they were floating in silence.","es":"Parecen dos personas muy flaquitas y altísimas que están tristes y no quieren hacer ruido. La señora de la izquierda tiene un velo en la cabeza y junta mucho las manos contra el pecho como rezando y mira hacia abajo. El señor de la derecha se agarra la cara con una mano y con la otra aprieta un libro rojo gordito con bolitas brillantes. Sus vestidos largos tienen rayitas con dibujitos y colores un poco raspados. Están colgados en la pared solos, sin cruz, y sus sombras se ven atrás como si flotaran en silencio."}],"retos":[{"pregunta":{"en":"If you count the figures hanging on the wall, how many do you see and what reddish object with studs does the figure on the right hold against its body?","es":"Si cuentas las figuras que cuelgan en el muro, ¿cuántas ves y qué objeto rojizo con tachuelas sostiene la figura de la derecha contra su cuerpo?"},"pista":{"en":"Look at the warm gray wall: on one side there are hands in prayer, on the other a hand on a cheek and something rectangular in a warm color.","es":"Mira el muro gris cálido: a un lado hay manos en oración, al otro una mano en la mejilla y algo rectangular de color cálido."}},{"pregunta":{"en":"Light comes from above and leaves two soft shadows behind the elongated carvings: what almost black color is the dark mantle that contrasts with the muted reds and oranges?","es":"La luz viene de arriba y deja dos sombras suaves detrás de las tallas alargadas: ¿de qué color casi negro es el manto oscuro que contrasta con los rojos y naranjas apagados?"},"pista":{"en":"Look among the colors of the garments for a cool deep tone that seems to blend with the shadow.","es":"Busca entre los colores de las ropas uno frío y profundo que parece confundirse con la sombra."}},{"pregunta":{"en":"Both figures rest their silhouettes on small worn bases and once accompanied a central figure now missing: what group did they originally form?","es":"Ambas figuras apoyan sus siluetas en bases pequeñas y gastadas y antes acompañaban a una figura central hoy ausente: ¿qué grupo formaban originalmente?"},"pista":{"en":"Think of the mourning scene where the Virgin and Saint John usually stand at the sides of the cross.","es":"Piensa en la escena de duelo donde suelen estar la Virgen y san Juan a los lados de la cruz."}}],"conexiones":["duelo contenido en postura y gesto","policromía original conservada en madera medieval","vacío y ausencia de la figura central","verticalidad alargada y frontalidad románica tardía","luz cenital y sombras proyectadas","pareja devocional Virgen y san Juan","Castilla y León siglo XIII","cenefas geométricas y ornamentación pintada"]},"salas":[],"escrita_por":"muse-wonder-1.0"}