Artaiz - San Martin

This church, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, was a real surprise to me. The single nave structure was probably erected within the 12th century. It was built in a "walking distance" off the pilgrim routes (like "San Pedro de Echano"), as the hamlet Artaiz is just about 10kms north of the "Camino Aragonés". San Martin will have been for sure a stopover for pilgrims, who had visited the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours, following the "Via Turonensis".

The masterly composed and carved portal of Saint Martin is extraordinary in the specific iconography, that in parts may reflect the relations to the Islamic neighbours (Reconquista). Here is a script by German arthistorian Hedda Finke about this subject.

art.unt.edu/medieval-symposium/presenter.php?year=2009&am...

Between the seven corbels under the portal´s roof are six reliefs.

This one depicts the parable of the "Rich Man and Lazarus".

Luke 16:19-21

"There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores."

I stumbled about a book by German author Meinolf Schumacher, about the "icon" of licking dogs in european literature. This may be interesting for German readers.

Meinolf Schumacher, Ärzte mit der Zunge - Leckende Hunde in der europäischen Literatur

The left corbel has the lady giving birth to a child (again). I am not sure about the figure to the right. For a while I saw a miser with a moneybag, or maybe even a coin- box. Then I found a theory, that he and the lady to the right should be seen as a couple. So the right corbel depicts the male part - and a phallus once was affixed, where we now see a hole.