Pantheon of the Kings of León

Pantheon of the Kings of León (Panteón de los reyes de León) by the great Spanish painter, scenographer, and illustrator José María Avrial y Flores (1807–1891), is regarded as a masterpiece of architectural romantic realism, historical re-creation, and spatial perspective. The interior of the royal Pantheon of San Isidoro in León, called 'Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art,' is depicted in a structure with strict geometric fidelity in Composition and Narrative Avrial. The columns divide the space into six vaulted bays, with large columns having low capitals, each decorated with intricate Romanesque ornamentation. Here, Avrial uses the space as a piece of architectural draft and adds a historical narrative. The canvas is a recreation of a visit made by the King of Spain, King Philip III, at the beginning of the 17th Century in the Pantheon. The royal party in the midground is dressed darkly and seriously in the style of the Spanish Golden Age. They are very small compared to the huge stone pillars and play an iconographic double role. They highlight the ephemerality of man in relation to monumental or historical things, and reveal the historical sensitivity of the later Habsburgs of Spain for the Middle Ages and the rulers of the Kingdom of León. In his use of light, he is very advanced in the Pantheon of the Kings of León. The irregular shapes of the stone burial boxes are highlighted by a mysterious portal on the left through which light penetrates and projects onto the rocky surface. Moreover, the painting provides an interesting view of the famous Romanesque frescoes of the 12th century in the Pantheon, among which are scenes from the life of Christ and the Apocalypse. The muted earth colors, ochers, and deep reds, which Avrial suggests on the stone vaults, are in keeping with the appearance of the pigments as they would have looked to 19th-century preservationists. The attention to detail means that the artwork is a priceless historical record of the site before late-modern restoration works were carried out.