Poblenou Cemetery’s Breathtaking ‘Kiss of Death’ Sculpture

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Kiss of Death Statue at Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona

Picture: Inventory Shots from Fotokon/Shutterstock

Nestled into an 18th-century cemetery in Barcelona, The Kiss of Death is a haunting sculpture made use of to commemorate a person man’s grave. The piece is situated in the city’s Poblenou Cemetery and is a person of its most legendary tombs. The statue is not only remarkable for the great carving and the sculptor’s skill to render texture, but also for the tender way in which it embraces dying.

Also recognized as El petó de la mort in Catalan and El beso de la muerte in Spanish, the marble sculpture is a good illustration of modern memento mori art. Memento mori, which interprets to “remember that you will die,” has a extensive tradition in the background of artwork. Relatively than viewing demise as some thing to be feared, memento mori embraces the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. The Kiss of Loss of life matches the strategy correctly. Below, demise is in the guise of a winged skeleton that carefully retains on to a dying guy and lays a kiss on his cheek.

This transferring strategy follows a very long tradition of classical sculpture, even nevertheless the sculpture alone is from the 20th century. The sculpture was created in 1930 for the tomb of textile maker Josep Llaudet Soler, which is inscribed with a verse by celebrated Catalan poet Jacinto Verdaguer. The epitaph reads: “His young heart is so extinguished. The blood in his veins grows cold. And all energy has long gone. Religion has been extolled by his fall into the arms of demise. Amen.”

Close Up of Cemetery Sculpture in Barcelona

Image: Stock Photographs from M4Productions/Shutterstock

Though his actual birthdate is unknown, it is considered that Soler died at a young age, which prompted his household to commission the statue. It definitely would have introduced comfort to the family to think about that Soler embraced, fairly than feared, his death and that he handed in a tranquil method. The emotion it stirs is one of the numerous good reasons that the sculpture has continued to entice visitors for almost 100 years.

But even past the idea, The Kiss of Dying is heralded for the masterful way in which it can be sculpted. It’s believed to have been made by Jaume Barba, whose identify is carved into the foundation, though some attribute the style and design to Joan Fontbernat. In the tradition of Bernini’s supple marble sculptures and Giovanni Strazza’s The Veiled Virgin, the statue is a masterful show of texture. The really hard bones of the skeleton stand in juxtaposition to the youthful man’s toned physique. The skeleton’s bony fingers sink into the man’s tender flesh in a way that reminds viewers of the human body’s circle of everyday living.

A check out to Pobleneou Cemetery is worthwhile, not only to watch The Kiss of Dying, but also to take in some of its other great tomb sculptures. The cemetery’s monumental graves harken back to a time when Barcelona’s bourgeoisie went to good lengths to celebrate their loved kinds. And just lately, the city has taken steps to keep the site on the mind’s of tourists many thanks to a cemetery route and an Android app that explains some of Poblenou’s greatest tombs—including The Kiss of Dying.