The Index MAGISTRI CATALONIAE is a virtual dictionary of artists who worked in Catalonia and its influence area during the 11th-15th centuries. Thus, native artists as well as foreign artists that worked in these territories are included. We are dealing with a tool to support the better knowledge of the rich artistic activity of Romanesque and Gothic masters and workshops in this Mediterranean area, which will also permit to explore the fluid relationships that were traced by the large expansion of the Crown of Aragon.
However the aim of this index is not only the creation of a biographical catalog of artists, but the reflection on the artist professional status and social consideration, with special attention to the professional vocabulary. For this reason, we are considering the previous works of J. F. Ràfols, J. P. Verrié or J. Yarza, as well as the Catalan literature on this subject from the last decades. In order to outline our expectations relative to the medieval artist world and to the creation and authorship’s conception our epistemological basis includes classic works such as those of S. Moralejo, “Artistas patronos y público en el arte del Camino de Santiago” (Compostellanum XXX, 3-4-, 1985, 395-430) or the methodological reflections of E. Castelnuovo, P. C. Claussen, M. Monica Donato, A. Lidov, M. Bacci or L. Battaglia Ricci.
In this initial stage dedicated to the medieval artist, the organization proposed by the Índex MAGISTRI CATALONIAE is structured in three main divisions: first, artists with identified name, in which are to be discerned the autograph artist and the documented artist; second the anonymous or attributed artists; and third the professional vocabulary.
The information contained in each entry of this digital index is adapted to the structure of an artist entry or a vocabulary entry, which have been especially intended to fulfill the main goals of this research project.
As a result MAGISTRI CATALONIAE is the first phase to the study of the three agents that define the medieval artwork origins and production: the artists, the patrons and the audiences. In the near future this resource will be completed with a second index dedicated to the patron’s prosopography, as well as to the vocabulary used to describe the audience’s reception of the artistic experience.
Artist Entry
Chronological Geographical Techniques Profile & Historiographical Works Patrons Epigraphic Sources Documentary Sources Literature
Framework Framework Debate
Vocabulary Entry
Definition Testimonies Activity & social consideration Iconography Literature
Index Magistri Cataloniae - Entries work in progress