Romanesque capital; 11th-12th centuries.

Romanesque capital; 11th-12th centuries.
Carved stone, possibly limestone.
It presents flaws caused by the passage of time.
Measurements: 19 x 29 x 21 cm.

It is a Romanesque figurative capital, dated between the 11th and 12th centuries, made in stone by direct carving. It has the characteristic shape of an inverted pyramid trunk, typical of Romanesque architectural sculpture, intended to serve as a transitional element between the shaft of the column and the upper structure.

The decoration is anthropomorphic, with human figures sculpted in relief on the sides of the capital, represented in a bearing attitude, with their bodies bent and their arms resting under the upper block. This motif, linked to the Atlanteans, is interpreted symbolically as an allusion to the moral and spiritual burden of the human being within the divine order.

The formal features are schematic and anti-naturalistic, adapted to the shape of the stone block, which responds to the aesthetic principles of the Romanesque, where the symbolic and didactic value of the image prevails. Due to its stylistic and iconographic characteristics, the capital must have been part of a religious architecture, probably a church or a cloister, integrated in a sculptural program of catechetical character typical of the full Romanesque.