MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, French
(active around 1019 in Pyrénées-Orientales)

Main portal

1019-20
Stone
Abbey church, Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines (Pyrénées-Orientales)

The main portal of the church has a lintel with bas-reliefs commissioned by abbot Guillaume and realized in 1019-1020 in white marble from Céret. In the middle is portrayed Christ in majesty in a mandorla, supported by two archangels and flanked by two groups of three figures under the arcades, over which to either side of the mandorla is the inscription ANNO VIDESIMO QUARTO RENNATE ROTBERTO REGE WILIELMUS GRATIA ABA ISTA OPERA FIERI IUSSIT IN ONORE SANCTI GENESII CENOBII QUE VOCANT FONTANES, that is, "In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of King Robert, William, by the grace [of God] abbot, ordered this work to be made in honour of Saint Genesius the hermit, which is called Fontanes."