Monday, November 24, 2008

A nice painting

Manuel Torres y Torres, bishop of Plasencia/Spain from 1913 to 1914. Does anybody know what the green pompom is about? Could it be something academical? Or is it part of the cathedral-canon's dress of Plasencia? Or is it - again - one of those Spanish specials?

12 comments:

latinmass1983 said...

Isn't green the original color of Bishops?

Anonymous said...

He was a canon back then. Green is the colour of most of Spanish canons' pompoms, even today. Info received from ecclesiastical source of Spanish origine.

Anonymous said...

www.unavocemalaga.com scroll down a bit and see the green poms

leo said...

latinmass: I also think that green is the color of bishops, but so far I have only seen green cords on a capello or green stones on rings and pectoral crosses.

John: Thanks!

latinmass1983 said...

Looking at the picture more carefully, there's no pectoral cross and no visible ring and the zucchetto is black. So, he's not a Bishop.

But is the color of the robes the real color of the Canons?

latinmass1983 said...

Also, the upper part of the cappa is folded, which is very commonly seen in Canons.

Anonymous said...

Dear friends:

I am sure that he is a canon. In some dioceses of Spain, the pompom of the canons´ bonete is green. For example, in my diocese, Almería (South of Spain) the pompom is green and the color of the robes is similar to the bishop´s.

Please, look these photos of the bishop of Guadix (a diocese next to Almería) with the canons of the Cathedral (you can enlarge them):

http://www.diocesisdeguadixbaza.org/noticias/?p=35

Cordial greetings from Spain,

Xavier.

Anonymous said...

Green pompoms are not uncommon even outside Spain; I once knew a canon of Antioch who wore one, and I've seen them once or twice in other places, including Rome - though on whom I wouldn't know.

Anonymous said...

Of course they are uncommon outside Spain.

leo said...

Well, whatever the outfit, the man certainly was a bishop. You can trust me on that. Whether the painting shows him as a bishop is another question. He only was in office for little more than half a year after all, so maybe there never was a portrait of him as bishop and he is indeed only wearing his canon's robe.

latinmass1983 said...
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latinmass1983 said...

Yes, he was a Bishop for a short time. However, this painting, in my opinion, is not depicting him as a Bishop. He is either portrayed as a Canon (if he was one at one point) OR, which tended to happen, the painter got a little creative on his own initiative and did not desire to be accurate when it came to prelatical attire/insignia/etc.

I have seen a picture of Bishop Manuel de Torres y Torres when he was a Bishop (standing next to a Cardinal in Córdoba) and in that picture (not a painting) he is wearing the prelatical dress mandated for a Bishop in the presence of a Cardinal (with the Spanish Mantelleta).