Tomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of Urgell

Tomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of Urgell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The arms of the counts of Urgell on the shoulder strap of this effigy of a boy suggest that it represents Ermengol IX, the uncle of Ermengol X and the only count of Urgell to die as a boy. Because the tomb is too small for the body of a youth of the age portrayed in the effigy, it was probably used after a chaux vive burial, in which the remains were interred in quicklime for at least a year and then transferred to the small sarcophagus. Since at least the early nineteenth century, this effigy, along with its original sarcophagus and lion supports, was in the wall niche in the church of Santa Maria at Castelló de Farfanya. Whether it was ever in the monastery church at Bellpuig de les Avellanes with the other tombs of the counts of Urgell is unknown.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of UrgellTomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of UrgellTomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of UrgellTomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of UrgellTomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of Urgell

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.