ARTES is delighted to share Helena Santidrián Mas’s report of her research trip, funded by the ARTES-CEEH Travel Scholarship.
In the months of March and April 2023, thanks to the ARTES/CEEH Travel Scholarship, I
was able to visit some of the key sites for my postgraduate dissertation titled “An Annunciation
from the Museo de la Catedral de Santiago de Compostela reconsidered: iconography, original
placement and current display,” supervised by Dr Tom Nickson. It was also possible, thanks to the
funding, to stay in Santiago to carry out research at the Archive of the Cathedral, where I found
essential primary sources to support my thesis.
stunning cloister and door leading to the Archive, that I saw every morning (a privilege!):
The main aim of my trip was to see several sculptural groups which represented Pregnant
Annunciations, still in situ in their chapels or naves, unlike the one in Santiago. In the morning of
March 23rd I visited León, where I could inspect the Cathedral and the Basilica de San Isidoro
Annunciations. In the afternoon I stopped by Toro, to see the pier sculptures in the Colegiata de
Santa María la Mayor. That same evening I arrived to Coimbra, Portugal, where I visited, on the
24th, the Museu Nacional Machado de Castro and its breathtaking sculpture collection – the
museum holds a very special ensemble of 14th century limestone figures, some of which are
possibly from the same workshop of the Santiago Annunciation.
Portugal.
After my Pregnant Annunciation road trip – possible thanks to ARTES and the CEEH, but
also to my parents, who drove over a thousand kilometres in 72 hours and observed countless 13th
and 14th century sculptures with me (!) –, I arrived to Santiago de Compostela. There I could, with
the guidance of the scientific team of the Archive of the Cathedral (Arturo Iglesias Ortega, Jorge
García, and Ma Elena Novás Pérez, to whom I am thankful), carry out extensive research on the
history of the Annunciation.
During my stay in Santiago I also had the chance to meet Ramón Yzquierdo Peiró, Director
of the Museum, to whom I am also grateful for his advice and directions. Last but not least, during
my visit I also met the photographic historian Carlos Castelao, who generously helped me and
shared with me 19th and 20th century images of the Cathedral from the Archivo Castelao, crucial
for my dissertation.
All of this was possible thanks to the support of ARTES and the CEEH. The trip, the
archival research, and the intellectual exchange with scholars that derived from it, are among the
most useful experiences I have had until now in my academic career (my dissertation was marked
with a distinction, achieved also thanks to all of this). I have learnt so much and enjoyed every bit
of it. Grateful for the opportunity,
Sincerely,
Helena Santidrián Mas
ARTES 