Bear in the Cathedral of Jaca, Spain

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Bear

Detail of the bear in the tympanum of the West Portal of the Cathedral of Jaca, Spain. End of the 11th century.

Bear trampled by a lion
West portal of the cathedral of Jaca, tympanum, end of the 11th century
Carved stone
Aragon (Spain)


Description

A bear accompanied by a basilisk is trampled by the right forepaw of a lion that walks all over them. Although the depiction of the bear suffers from a certain lack of naturalism regarding its morphology, the artist has attached importance to the liveliness of the face -with open eyes and round ears- and has reflected some distinctive features of the animal like its short neck, its thick coat, and the sturdiness of its back legs. The bear is underfoot of the powerful lion, whose size is considerably bigger to show its superiority. An inscription above the group clarifies the meaning of the scene: IMP(er)IVM MORTIS CONCVLCANS E(st) LEO FORTiS (the lion, -which stands for Christ- triumphs over the realm of death). So the bear, as well as the basilisk, belongs to evil forces, and it can be interpreted as a symbol of the Devil and sin. That meaning, which has its roots in the Bible (I Kings, 17:37) was pointed out by authors like Saint Augustine, who emphasized the negative nature of the animal. The bear, which has been interpreted as a leontophonos by C. Kendall, is located in the right side of the tympanum, close to a Christogram and opposite to a group dominated by another Christ-lion that spares a prostrated man.

Bibliography

  • Gaillard, Georges, “Notes sur les tympans aragonais”, in Bulletin Hispanique, XXX (1928), pp. 193-203.
  • Kendall, Calvin B., “The Verse Inscriptions of the Tympanum of Jaca and the Pax Anagram”, in Mediaevalia, 19, 1996, pp. 405-434.
  • Ocón Alonso, Dulce, Tímpanos románicos españoles: reinos de Aragón y Navarra, I, Madrid, Universidad Complutense, 1987.
  • Simon, David L., “El tímpano de la catedral de Jaca”, in Jaca en la Corona de Aragón (siglos XII-XVIII). XV Congreso de Historia de la Corona de Aragón, III, Zaragoza, Diputación General de Aragón, 1994, pp. 405-419.
  • Weisbach, Werner, Religiöse Reform und mittelalterliche Kunst, Einsiedeln-Zürich, 1945.


Author

Francisco de Asís García García

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