June 26, 2014

Conferences

SAN FERMÍN CYCLE

Image and iconography of San Fermin. From the martyr of Amiens to the posters of the Fiestas.

D. Emilio Quintanilla Martínez.
Chair of Heritage and Art of Navarre

The purpose of this lecture is not to show the different images that, over the centuries, have had San Fermín as the subject of different artistic manifestations in very diverse techniques, supports and styles, but rather to focus on some iconological aspects, that is, on those factors that have made the image of this saint identifiable and recognizable, both in his individual representations and in the cycles of his life, focusing especially on the artistic sphere of Navarre.

It seems that the visual definition of the image of San Fermín is made in France in the 13th century, where we already find a very complete cycle dedicated to him on the façade of the cathedral of Amiens. Different scenes of his life appear there: from his arrival in Amiens to the transfer of his relics, and in the mullion he is represented in the way that will be the usual in his representations for centuries, characterized by the episcopal attributes and his figure of a relatively young man, dressed in a talar suit on which are superimposed the alb, the stole (only its lower ends visible), the tunicela and the chasuble, the hands sheathed in the chirotecas, the right in attitude of blessing, and holding the crosier with the left, and touched with the mitre. This cycle is completed in the magnificent reliefs of the altarpiece of the same cathedral (1490-1530), which include his arrival in Amiens, preaching, baptisms, imprisonment, martyrdom, and the invention and transfer of his relics. The saint also appears dressed in the other way in which we will see him appear later, in which the chasuble is replaced by a pluvial cloak.

That is to say, when in Navarre the cult of San Fermin is reactivated at different times, and with the cult, his images, the images or the cycles do not present characteristics or new elements that had not appeared before in Amiens, neither in scenes nor in individual images.

San Fermin. Mullion of the doorway dedicated to the saint. Cathedral of Amiens

With the passing of time, the extraordinary popularity of the Sanfe rmines and their international projection have multiplied the images of San Fermín in an incomparable way.
rmines and its international projection have multiplied the images of San Fermín in an incomparable way, providing it with a diffusion that surely no other religious image has experienced, both in issue and in variety and, of course, in media, far beyond devotion and worship.

Thus, from the second half of the twentieth century, and accentuating in the years already spent in the twenty-first century, along with the traditional representations, which have remained almost unchanged, we have witnessed a progressive trivialization of the sacred image, which has been stripped of that character and often become a mere symbol or reference letter of the festival. And together with this desacralization, there has been a process of simplification of the image, which is recognized, curiously, by the minimization and simplification of the episcopal attributes: the mitre, the crosier and often the pluvial cape, which, by a curious popular interpretation of the well-known bust-reliquary that is taken out in Pamplona in procession on July 7, has been interpreted as a bullfighter's cape.

Javier Muro, San Fermin

Ignacio Domenech, Equipazo
Winning poster 2014

Luminous decoration of the kiosk of place del Castillo