Title

Apse from San Martin at Fuentidueña

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

In 1861 the state of conservation of the temple was this: “San Martín, which remains intact, except for the roof and half tower, which today serves as a cemetery” (Somorrostro, 1861). By decree of June 3, 1931, San Martín de Fuentidueña was declared a historic-artistic monument. In that same decade of the 1930s, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York took the first steps to acquire the apse of the temple with the purpose of transferring it to New York, in order to complete one of the rooms of The Cloisters - the headquarters of medieval art of the institution, which at that time was under construction north of Manhattan, in Fort Tryon Park, thanks to the impulse of the American magnate and collector John D. Rockefeller Jr. Despite the efforts of James J. Rorimer (1905-1966), curator of medieval art at the New York institution, later director of The Cloisters, and finally director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he was unable to achieve the acquisition and transfer of this architectural ensemble, among other things because of the obstacles imposed on the export of works of art by the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936); the Artistic Treasure Law of 1933 prevented the export of a national monument.

Nevertheless, Rorimer's perseverance led him to try again to acquire this apse to complete a section of The Cloisters, after the Civil War and World War II; he believed he had found the right moment to achieve his goal during the Franco dictatorship, in the 1950s, at a time when Franco was trying to escape from international isolation with the support of the United States. Against the backdrop of the signing of the Madrid Pacts between the United States and Spain (1953), he once again initiated contacts to achieve his goal, this time using diplomatic channels, without disdaining contacts with agents in Spain who could help him achieve his objective, such as the antique dealers Raimundo Ruiz and Arcadio Torres, the academics Manuel Gómez-Moreno and Francisco Javier Sánchez-Cantón, the Director General of Fine Arts, Antonio Gallego y Burín, and the Minister of National Education, Jesús Rubio. Franco's government allowed the apse to be dismantled and moved to New York in 1957, the decision was endorsed by agreement of the Council of Ministers of Franco's government on July 12, 1957. This decision was presented as a cultural exchange aimed at strengthening the ties between the United States and Spain, since the departure of the apse of Fuentidueña to New York was in exchange for six panels of the mural decoration that once adorned the hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Soria), which would be destined for the Prado Museum. These paintings were for sale on the art market and were bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art when they received confirmation that the Spanish government would allow the apse to be removed in exchange for these paintings (in fact, this was one of the options offered by the New York institution, which also put on the table other works that could be exchanged, among them the grille from the cathedral of Valladolid, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York).

There were compensations to the town of Fuentidueña, to the bishopric of Segovia, to the agent who helped Rorimer before those instances, Arcadio Torres; in addition, Manuel Gómez-Morneo's daughter, Carmen Gómez-Moreno, was designated as responsible for the operation of dismantling and moving the apse by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the institution where she developed the rest of her professional career. And there were also voices critical of such a decision, such as those of the academicians César Cort i Botí and Leopoldo Torres Balbás, or that of the president of the Provincial Commission of Monuments of Segovia, Luis Felipe de Peñalosa. Angel Ferrant was the architect in charge of the dismantling and packing of the monument. In 1961 the reconstructed apse at The Cloisters was officially presented to New York society and the international academic community (Merino de Cáceres and Martínez Ruiz, 2024).

Locations

• XII^th c. - 1957

  church

  San Martín, Fuentidueña (Spain)

• 1958 - present

  museum

  The Cloisters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (United States)