artist to produce some of the most original aspects of the Cycle of the Life andPaassion of

Christ in the Bible ofAvila. However, it is important to point out that a source might have

existed at the time, but has since been lost to us, casting a shadow of mystery on the

origin of certain aspects of the cycle. Also one must acknowledge the originality of

certain elements that could have been the product of the artist' s imagination.

 From a formal perspective the first thing that needs to be considered is the

distribution of the scenes in parallel registers, which are reminiscent of other early and

contemporary examples found in manuscript illuminations, sculpture and mural

paintings. There are many examples of the distribution of scenes in registers such as in a

Visigothic pier with scenes from the Life of Christ from the 7th century in San Salvador,

Toledo, where scenes with the miracles of Christ are divided into four registers

containing one scene each (Fig. 14). A second example is found in the Hermitage in San

Baudelio of Berlanga from the 12th century where the entire hermitage is decorated with

scenes of the Life and Passion of Christ and other genre scenes, that are disposed in

horizontal bands along the interior of the building (Fig. 15). A third example can be

found in an ivory plaque from a reliquary in Leon (1115-1120) where two scenes are

located one above the other (Fig. 16) creating two registers that divide the space and the

scenes. It has been suggested that the artist' s arrangement of the scenes into registers

demonstrates an efficient use of the space.120 Nevertheless, despite the obviousness of

this statement, the Master of the Cycle of the Life andPaassion of Christ seems to have

been following a tradition that had been long established in early medieval Spain.


120 Maria Rodriguez Velasco, "Iconografia del Nuevo Testamento en la Biblia de Avila,"
en Actas del V Simposio Biblico Espaiol. La Biblia en el Arte y en la Literatura,
Valencia: Universidad de Navarra, 1999, p. 365.