Title

Saint Nicholas. Mural painting from San Baudelio de Berlanga (Soria)

Anonimous

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Object history

The story surrounding the alienation of the mural paintings of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Soria) is one of the most talked about and regrettable in the history of the heritage of Castilla y León. Numerous researchers have focused their studies on the building and the removal of its paintings: Elías Romera, Álvarez y Mélida, Lampérez, Gómez Moreno, Garnelo, Cook, Camón Aznar, Santonja, Navascués, Martínez Ruiz, Terés Navarro, etc. As a result of the discovery and publication of photographs of the hermitage in the last quarter of the 19th century, an interest in its sale and export was unleashed.

On June 24, 1922 the neighbors of Casillas de Berlanga had met with Blas Taracena, secretary of the Monuments Commission of Soria, to find out if they could sell the paintings inside the hermitage. They said that an Italian named Leon Levi had offered 50,000 pesetas in exchange for their sale. However, the neighbors were not sure of the legal repercussions and preferred to ask before making the transaction. Levi raised the offer to 70,000 pesetas and on June 29 gave the town's mayor, Carlos Yubero, 20,000 pesetas as an advance. On July 3, the captain of the Civil Guard, Felipe Pascual Palomo, received the warning that a group of foreigners were working in the hermitage and when he went there he interrogated the two men who were there, who gave Levi's name as the one responsible for the operation. Although the captain gave the order to suspend the activity immediately and close the hermitage, when they returned to the village they saw a car leaving the village with great speed (Martínez Ruiz, 2008).

Levi's interest in the mural ensemble was due to a commission he had received from a French collector, Gabriel Dereppe. Although the Monuments Commission of Soria, along with many institutions and researchers, did everything possible to prevent the definitive sale of the paintings, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Levi and the plundering. After Dereppe acquired the paintings, they ended up being dispersed to different North American collections. Elijah B. Martindale bought part of them from Dereppe in 1952 and subsequently donated them. He gave the fragment of Saint Nicholas and the Falconer to the Cincinnati Museum in 1962.

Description

In addition to the sale of the mural ensemble, one of the most debated aspects is the authorship of the paintings. Post (1930), Cook (1930), and Gudiol (1958) suggested that the work was executed by three artists: the Master of Berlanga, the Master of Maderuelo, and a third master who painted the chapel of the tribune. The fragment preserved in the Cincinnati Art Museum corresponds to the northern wall of the apse of the hermitage. It depicts two distinct scenes: the appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene and the possible visit of Mary Magdalene to Christ's tomb (Guardia, 2011). On either side of the altar, in the middle frieze of the main wall, is St. Nicholas, identifiable as a bishop by his crozier, along with a bird that may be a stork (Guardia, 2003).

Locations

• ca. 1125 - 1922

  hermitage

  Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, Soria (Spain)

• 1922 - Second quarter of the XX^th c.

  dealer/antiquarian

  Leon Levi / Leone Levi, Venecia/Barcelona. Recorría toda la geografía española en busca de tesoros artísticos (Spain) *

• ca. 1952 - 1962

  private collection

  Elijah B. Martindale and George H. A. Clowes, Indianapolis (United States) *

• ca. 1962 - present

  museum

  Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati (United States)