Wild boar hunt in Santa Maria de Tiermes, Spain
Wild boar
Wild Boar hunt.
Gallery of Santa María de Tiermes.
End of the 12th century.
Carved stone.
Soria (Spain).
Description
The capital shows a wild boar attacked by a hunter armed with a lance and a dog which is over the back of its prey. This dog is biting the head of the wild boar to immobilize it while the hunter pierces its size. The size of the wild boar is more or less accurate, as well as its anatomy, something that makes the animal recognizable.
This capital belongs to an open gallery and it is placed in the south side of the east entrance to the gallery and three of its faces have been carved. This hunting scene continues in the other two sides of the capital with a hunter playing an olifant and a third man carrying another lance, besides some vegetable elements in both sides. This wild boar hunt could be interpreted as a psychomachic combat against evil or sin, as well as a scene of daily life, depicting the defensive hunting that the inhabitants of that area used to practice.
Bibliography
- GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio, El románico en la provincia de Soria. Madrid: CSIC, 1946.
- HERNANDO GARRIDO, José Luis, “Apuntes sobre la caza en el arte medieval hispano”, Codex Aqvilarensis, 19 (2003), 102-126.
- PALOMERO ARAGÓN, Félix, “Aproximación a la escultura románica monumental de la ermita de Santa María de Tiermes”, Celtiberia, 73 (1987), 21-67.
- RODRÍGUEZ MONTAÑÉS, José Manuel, “Montejo de Tiermes” en GARCÍA GUINEA, Miguel Ángel y PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ, José María (dir.), Enciclopedia del Románico en Castilla y León. Soria II. Aguilar de Campoo: Fundación Santa María la Real – Centro de estudios del Románico, 2002.
- URIA RIU, Juan, “La caza de la montería en León y Castilla en la Edad Media, Clavileño, 35 (1955), 1-14.
Author
Diana Olivares Martínez
