Anonymous / Unknown

First half 12th century (possibly 1129–34)

By unknown artist/maker, Vidal de Canellas (Spanish, active Aragon, Spain 1236-1252), and probably Michael Lupi de Çandiu (Spanish, active Pamplona, Spain 1297-1305).

In 1247, with the reconquest of Spain from the Muslim forces virtually complete, King James I of Aragon and Catalonia, Spain, decided to establish a new systematic code of law for his kingdom. He entrusted the task to Vidal de Canellas, bishop of Huesca. The Getty Museum's manuscript, the only known copy of the law code still in existence, is a translation of Vidal de Canellas's Latin text into the vernacular Navarro-Aragonese language (in that language, the book is called Vidal Mayor in reference to the author). The manuscript's scribe was Michael Lupi de Çandiu, who identifies himself in an inscription and who also may have translated the text.

Not only is the text an important historical document but it is luxuriously illuminated with hundreds of historiated and decorated initials. Although written and illuminated between 1290 and 1310 in one of the major urban centers in northeastern Spain, the elegant style of the painting reveals an intimate link with contemporary French illumination. This stylistic connection demonstrates the increased movement of both artists and manuscripts from one European court to another.

After Juan Conchillos Falcó (Spanish, 1641-1711). On striking blue prepared paper, this academic figure study is posed as Saint John the Baptist. Seen from below, suggesting that the model stood on a raised platform, the saint looms large. The artist modeled his figure using the blue as a middle tone. Charcoal and white watercolor forcefully articulate the anatomical form of the saint, and convey his powerful presence. The saint's musculature is dramatically portrayed in gritty black lines built up in bold succession. The summary treatment of the drapery, executed in broad, jagged strokes, gives the saint's clothing an abstract quality that reiterates the drawing's primary purpose as a study of the male body. On close examination, the charcoal's rough texture reflects glints of light, creating a seamless marriage between medium, technique, and subject.