# Alfonso the Wise: Cantigas de Santa Maria [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MINIATURIST, Spanish]() - Date: 1251-1300 - Technique: Manuscript \(Banco Rari 20\) ## Commentary Alfonso X, King of Castile, was one of the most enlightened sovereign of his time. He was a patron of musicians and poets, appreciated literature and science and wrote legal and historic works. His Song Book, which fuses together motifs drawn from Latin and vernacular collections of poetry, contains more than four hundred compositions. In the manuscript each composition is accompanied by one or even two illuminated pages. These are divided into six sections and framed by borders of geometric motifs interrupted by coats of arms. The miniatures were executed by various artists who show French influence. On the left of the miniature on folio 1, the Virgin and Child and two angels are opening the gates to Heaven and on the right Kin g Alfonso is showing the scene to a crowd. ## Related artworks - [Alba Bible]() - [Alfonso the Wise: Cantigas de Santa Maria]() - [Antiphoner]() - [Astrological Treatise]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Apocalypse]() - [Beatus of Liébana: Commentary on the Revelation of St. John]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()