Presencia del adivino Balaán en el arte navarro: claves para su interpretación [Presence of the Soothsayer Balaam in Navarrese Art: keys to its interpretation]

Abstract

Balaam the Soothsayer, one of the most puzzling characters in the Old Testament, is treated in a contradictory way in the Bible and later by his commentators, although Christian apologists will see in his fourth Oracle a messianic prophecy applicable to both the birth of Jesus and Virgin Mary. This paper addresses his presence in Navarrese Art, beginning with the illustration of the Bibles of Pamplona and moving on to some examples of the Cathedral (Barbazana Chapel and Sepulchre of Miguel Sánchez de Asiáin) and altarpieces of the late-Gothic and Early Renaissance (Tudela, Artajona, Burlada), resorting to textual and graphic sources in its interpretation related to Mary and Christ, linked in the latter case to the Epiphany.