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Fernando I and Alfonso VI as Patrons of the Arts

The exclusive reference to males in the title is not meant to discount the more than significant role played by the female side of the Leonese royal families. In terms of direct patronage it is indeed easier to verify roles for queens and infantas than for Fernando and Alfonso. This is especially true for the reign of Alfonso. The Master, Don Manuel Gomez-Moreno, noted the dominant role rulers played in peninsular patronage, and commented expressly on the fact that recibieron inspiraciones todos ellos de sus respectivas mujeres y hermanas… 1 What follows is an attempt to broadly compare the patterns of patronage from mid-eleventh to the beginning of the twelfth century, with the names Fernando and Alfonso identifying the successive rules within this period. The names of Sancha and Urraca will figure prominently. Perhaps the virtual loss of Sahagun has obscured another name that might have been included, Constanza, but that remains mere speculation. Royal patronage had been significant in pre-Romanesque Spain, as the splendid treasuries of the Asturian rulers bear witness. If there was an era when one might claim monastic patronage dominated, it was during the tenth century, when the Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus became a sine qua non for the libraries of monasteries found along the frontier with al-Andalus. The result was the brilliant art-historical chapter we entitle “Mozarabic Painting”. The first work we can assign to the patronage of Fernando and Sancha continues that tradition, its royal sponsorship breaking what had been an exclusively monastic enterprise. 2 The Commentary they commissioned in 1047 proclaimed its origin in an elegant acrostic (f. 7): FREDENANDUS REX DEI GRA[TIA] M[EMO]R[I]A LIBER/SANCIA M[EMO]R[I]A L[I]BRI]. 3 Its elevated patronage is reflected in the elegance of materials, the liberal use of purple, silver and gold, and a refined technique in writing and illumination. This refine