Research projects

Artistic production and consumption in the catalan urban world in the gothic period within the European context (2002-2003)


Title: Artistic production and consumption in the Catalan urban world in the Gothic period within the European context (2000-2003)

Financing institution: Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior e Investigación Científica

Reference: BHA2000-1037

Head researcher: Dr. Francesc Fité i Llevot, professor of the Dep. of Art History and Social History at the Universitat de Lleida

Researchers:

· Dr. Francesc Fité i Llevot, professor in the Dep. of Art History and Social History at the Universitat de Lleida
· Dr. Josefina Planas Badenas, Full professor in the Dep. of Art History and Social History at the Universitat de Lleida
· Mrs. Carmen Berlabé Jové, conservator of Museum of Lleida: diocesan and district
· Mr. Albert Velasco Gonzàlez, research assistant Dep. of Art History and Social History at the Universitat de Lleida

Summary of the objectives:

This research is designed to tackle two important aspects of the urban world: production and consumption in relation with social classes (patricians and middle class) and the city’s most important institutions: the municipal council and the cathedral or ecclesiastical estate in its place. Similarly, and always related to the above-mentioned social classes, we aim to touch upon urban housing, in its spatial distribution, its furnishings and the festive framework of the citizens (ephemerous art), taking the European Gothic city as a model, in this context the Spanish case, with its own characteristics and peculiarities, in many cases, inherited from its Muslim past.

The objectives proposed for this research are as follows:

A.- The study and analysis of the mechanisms for artistic production and consumption in the Catalan urban field in the Gothic period. This is the period between 1300 and the early decades of the 16th century, considering these dates as limits in which the Gothic underwent its full development.
Given the breadth of the proposed subject, we concentrate preferably on the analysis of what we consider the main centres of production: the cathedrals, large churches and municipal corporations. With regard to consumption, we aim to focus especially on the most representative classes in the civic field: the urban patrician class and the middle class, the "mà reial" and "mà mitjana" (royal hand and middle hand), as preferential consumers in our study.

Through these estates and social classes, we go in depth into the working of the workshops and artists-artisans, especially with regard to the production of books, very important in the case of Lleida, linked to the Estudi General or University and the Seu Vella, the old cathedral; we will also contemplate the workshops of the silver and goldsmiths, embroiderers, cabinetmakers, smiths, painters or sculptors etc, based on the documentation proposed for the research, that will allow us to delve into different aspects of their work and social status.

With regard to consumption, we will focus on works of art, acquired either by commission, through commerce, imported from other countries or from other parts of the Crown of Aragon, with the aim of being able to analyse through these the artistic tastes and other facets of the cultural level of the consumer.

B.– Within the urban framework, and as a derivation of the above-mentioned artistic activity, we propose a second research route centred on the study of housing as a nucleus of the family unit, through the distribution of space and the furnishings. This analysis will, on the other hand, allow us to know about new aspects of the consumers, related to their mentalities, devotions, etc.

C.– Finally, also within the urban context, we want to concentrate on the art known as ephemerous, that refers to the great celebrations and festivities, an aspect that we consider of great interest, in the framework of the artistic study of the cities, given that this is source of information about the urban society under study.

Through ephemerous art, such representative festivities as the “Misteri de la Colometa” or Pentecost, Corpus, Easter Week, the Assumption of the Mother of God can be reconstructed together with other eminently religious celebrations, which were held in the cathedrals or large churches, as well as in the streets and urban spaces.

For all this, our starting point is the model of European Gothic city and through the different mechanisms of artistic production and consumption, we intend to put forward the Catalan case, which on the other hand will be compared with the rest of the territory of the Crown of Aragon.

Given the variety of themes and their extension, for this first phase we plan to concentrate on the so-called “Catalunya de Ponent” (Western Catalonia), that includes Lleida as the most important city and, as more representative towns, in the period under study, Balaguer, Cervera, La Seu d’Urgell, Agramunt, Solsona, Tàrrega, Àger, Verdú, Talarn, Sant Llorenç de Morunys and Tremp. Given Lleida’s privileged and strategic position, with its role as a capital, with regard to other centres of the so-called Franja de Ponent (Western Fringe), that separates Catalonia and Aragon, we also wish to extend the study to the Aragonese towns of Fonz, Tamarite and Benabarre.


Publications:

FITÉ, Francesc: “El monument funerari de l’ardiaca major de la Seu Vella de Lleida Berenguer Barutell”, Acta Mediaevalia, 22-26 (II), 2001, pp. 615-667

FITÉ, Francesc: “Ritual i cerimònia a la Seu Vella de Lleida: les devocions, aniversaris i fundacions”, Imágenes y Promotores en el Arte Medieval. Miscelánea en Homenaje a Joaquín Yarza Luaces, Bellaterra, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2001, pp. 373-390

FITÉ, Francesc: “Litúrgia i Cultura a la Seu Vella de Lleida”, Seu Vella. L’esplendor Retrobada, Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya-Fundació “La Caixa”, 2003, pp. 98-129

PLANAS, Josefina: “El estilo Internacional y la ilustración del libro en la Corona de Aragón: estado de la cuestión”, Boletín del Museo e Instituto “Camón Aznar”, nº XCII, 2003, pp. 195-228 and pp. 283-287

PLANAS, Josefina: “Romulae Fabulae de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Bolonia: un códice profano en el panorama miniaturístico lombardo de fines del siglo XIV”, (chapter in the facsimile edition of the manuscript), Madrid, Ars Magna, 2001, pp. 108-219

BERLABÉ, Camen: “Fundación y patronato real en el monasterio de Sijena (Huesca). De Alfonso el Casto a Jaime el Justo”, Imágenes y Promotores en el Arte Medieval. Miscelánea en Homenaje a Joaquín Yarza Luaces, Bellaterra, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2001, pp. 255-268