El artista románicocanteros y otros oficios artísticos

Abstract

To discuss the subject matter of the representation of the artist in Romanesque art is something as generic as it is ambiguous, since, as we will see, our knowledge regarding the subject basically comes from what we might call "textual memory", rather than from its visual evidence in the iconography. Even though we know very few names, we have even fewer remaining images of architects, sculptors, painters or craftsmen at work. Among them, only a small part gives us information about a specific personality. It is therefore necessary to resort to representations in which the narrative context of the scene requires the inclusion of episodes of building, carving or illuminating a manuscript. Probably, their uniqueness makes them a valuable testimony of the artistic practice of those centuries. We will not consider here other forms of manual labor such as weaving, shoemaking, blacksmithing or minting -although sometimes they are also encompassed within this category- as they deserve an article of their own.