MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, Spanish
(active late 13th century)

Sarcophagus of the Infante Felipe

1290s
Stone
Santa María la Blanca, Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia)

Local Romanesque tradition of tomb monuments in Castile-León provides the pattern for the free-standing sarcophagus supported by lions, as in the tomb monument for the Infante Felipe (died 1274), younger brother of Alfonso X, in the church at Villalcázar de Sirga. Around the sides of the monumental coloured sarcophagus, on which the tomb effigy, dressed in richly ornamented clothing, lies with his sword raised, runs a relief depicting the office of the dead. The funeral procession, portrayed as a splendid ceremony led by bishops and representatives of the monastic orders, nobles on horseback, and mourning figures wildly tearing their hair, bear witness to the high status of the deceased.

This sarcophagus became the prototype for the tombs of the higher nobility.