Mounted in the apse from Fuentidueña, this fresco originally comes from a different church, nestled in the Pyrenees near the border between Spain and France. Despite its remote location, the church of the Virgin at Cap d'Aran occupies a strategic position in the mountains, at the head of the Garonne River. In the twelfth century, it was controlled by the Knights Templar, then a wealthy military order dedicated to the protection of the Holy Land and to the Christian reconquest of Spain. The church is one of several in Catalunya where the same, accomplished, artist worked.The church of the Virgin was sacked in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War; subsequently, its frescoes were acquired by museums and private collectors, while other objects from the church disappeared entirely.
