In his well-known essay 'Psychoanalysis of Art', Freud warned, within the interesting chapter dedicated to the extraordinary and complex figure of Leonardo da Vinci, about the frequency with which great artists were pleased to vent their fantasy in erotic and even obscene representations .

In fact, what could be obscene in the art of the Renaissance, of which Leonardo, no doubt, was not the only representative but one of the most prolific teachers, was nothing else, at least in the face of the gallery, that regression to the classic patterns and therefore, 'pagans', to whom we had to add that 'collateral damage', to name it somehow, of the cult to the body, just left behind an era, crossed out as dark perhaps with too much vehemence, as it was the medieval one, where it precisely incarnated, comparatively speaking, the worm, bait that the devil served to bring into his network fish too attached to their voracious natural instincts.

Some fish, by the way, that barely understood anything of the complex world of the spirit, much less shared the idea of ​​mortification and sackcloth, as seals of guarantee, comparatively speaking, that would be implanted in the passport of his soul to transfer the borders of a kingdom, the one of the Heavens -and I do not intend, at all, to plagiarize Ridley Scott-, that each time demanded more guarantees of purity, sacrifice and perfection, according to the considerations of an estate that shone by the ostentation and conservation of privileges, the Ecclesia, which was not only the first transgressor of the rule, but also, politically, ladina and incorrect as few-and I fall short, but it is not a matter of imitating the Marx Brothers in the West, throwing more firewood - he knew how to look the other way when he was interested or circumstances would recommend it.

Erwin Panofsky, of German origin and one of the great art historians of the twentieth century, said that 'anyone who is faced with a work of art, whether aesthetically recreated or rationally investigated, should be interested in their work. three constitutive elements: the materialized form, the idea (that is, in the visual arts, the theme) and the content.

And in reference to the subject at hand, the implicit sexuality in the temples, the great hermeneut or historian of the religions Mircea Eliade, refers to an interesting episode about the eroticism implicit in the formidable paintings of the Hindu temple of Ajanta, wondering how a Buddhist monk he could free himself from 'the temptations of the flesh', surrounded by so many superb nakedness, answering then, that by means of Tantrism; or what comes to be the same, if free and narrowly interpreted: sex as a vehicle towards a sacred transcendence.

There is no doubt that all these considerations could form the basis on which such a complex issue is based.

But perhaps, after all, it is not so much, if to these recitals we add a series of factors, conveniently more mundane, such as those that bring us closer to the period we are talking about-XIIth and XIIIth centuries-; the harsh northern environment where this one rises, as well as some other temples of similar characteristics and content; the special circumstances of life in those places; the 'festive' character and transgressor of the people, which in spite of everything was not lacking, as a counterpoint to the iron living conditions, where even the Church, which was not stupid, -not in vain, has survived comfortably for two thousand years -, I looked to the other side by using rosary and patience, allowing the 'liberation' of a certain repressed libidinal dose - Freud come and think - and, last but not least, the period of insecurity and war, with the peremptory the need to bring children into the world to sustain a community subject to its designs and the designs of kings and masters, useful and necessary cannon fodder, which also contributed, in an objectively spiritual manner, to sustain the no less fierce battle of the Devil and Saint Miguel, in the psychostasis or weighing of souls.

The stonemasons, independently of other allusions and complexities, also represented, in a way not free of fantasy, the function of 'chroniclers' of their time.

And as such, either by their own initiative or by order, with their hammer and chisel they gave shape to this set of myths and archetypes, and libidinous exteriorizations -consider them if they want, as part of the 'vices' of the time- , that surrounded the consciences and the relations of the time. And let's not forget, that San Pedro de Cervatos, after all, was a Collegiate; and as its name indicates, in the idea of ​​'school', multiple disciplines and teachings fit.

This does not remove, of course, to hide the numerous mysteries added to this place and its peculiar representations -not only those of a sexual nature-, and perhaps, as it could have been the case, to suggest the presence of some specific military order, because There is a certainly relevant fact: one of the interior capitals of the church of San Pedro de Cervatos, for its orgiastic and unnatural theme -men and animals, copulating at the same time-, remember that one located in a similar place, in the church, much more humble, from Santiago de los Caballeros, to the Vera del Duero and outside the capital Zamora.

A church, in addition, where they guarded arms and knights were armed, which also has added the honor of having been the place of the consecration as such of the Cid Campeador. One could also speculate, with certain 'orientalizing' connections, as evidenced by the presence of a certain Hindu-like ascetic, who is located on one of the capitals of a curious temple located in the neighboring Merindades of Burgos.

But leaving enigmas, mysteries and connections more or less amazing for better occasion, another thing, is as we see it now, from our time, our knowledge and our moral perspectives of cataloging. In this regard, and perhaps for your own convenience, I am left with a phrase of Camilo José Cela, who on his second trip to the Alcarria and motivated, who knows, if for something similar to what can be seen here, in San Pedro de Cervatos, wrote that of: 'The traveler realizes that he is staying carcass and that as a young man he has no more than the three sub-powers of the soul -remember, feeling and desire- and the three theological subvirtues: cachondez (contained) , luck and some health to keep the type '.

Of course, always bearing in mind what Pablo Picasso affirmed: 'art is the lie that makes us understand the truth, at least the understandable truth'.