Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, Benedictine Abbey, Pyrenees, Northern Catalonia, France

The Catalan Romanesque Capital with Winged Monsters and Human Masks from The Met Cloisters

2141

High Romanesque Period (c. 1130–1140)

A load-bearing column capital of pink Languedoc marble from the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, featuring fierce winged monsters with deeply incised feathers and peering human masks emerging from corner volutes. Continuous ribbed leaf motifs and spiral stems wrap the bell of the capital, while aggressive undercutting beneath projecting wings and scroll volutes creates cavernous shadow contrasts under open cloister light.