TheSpanish character has expressed itself in sculpture more forcibly than in painting. In no other country, perhaps, do we find a people whose native taste for carving in wood and stone is so deep-rooted, so essentially an outgrowth of the strong life of the race. To understand the art of Spain you must know her sculpture.
As far back as the prehistoric Iberian period we find traces of a vigorous school of sculpture in Spain, which, though based on Greek and Asiatic sources, yet attained a striking individuality of its own. Professor Pierre Paris of Bordeaux says of these prehistoric carvings that “the figures are simple and virile, while the women are distinguished by dignity of attitude and nobility of face, expressive of deep religious gravity.†The finest example—a supreme type of primitiveIberian sculpture, very fascinating in its curious originality—is the Lady of Elche, the bust in the Louvre, which Pierre Paris, in agreement with Reinach, dates about 440B.C.Of this wonderful work Pierre Paris writes: “In her enigmatic face, ideal and yet real, in her living eyes, on her voluptuous lips, on her passive and severe forehead, are summed up all the nobility and austerity, the promises and the reticences, the charm and the mystery of woman.... She is above all Spanish, not only by the mitre and the great wheels that frame her delicate face, but by the disturbing strangeness of her beauty. She is indeed more than Spanish: she is Spain itself, Iberia arising still radiant with youth from the tomb in which she has been buried for more than twenty centuries.â€[A]
This is true.
Sculpture has always been the most genuinely Spanish of the arts. The Visigoths were attracted to sculpture; and though many of the credited examples they were supposed to have left cannot be accepted, there are a few Visigothic carvings,which bear witness to this predominant expression of character.
Belonging to a later date we find a surprising wealth of carving in wood and stone scattered throughout Spain in the cathedrals, churches, cloisters, and palaces. There is no town in Spain which does not possess some sculptured works.
Spain has given to the world few great sculptors; none of her carvers stand on quite the high level of her most famous painters. Yet, if we except the great names of El Greco, Ribera, Velazquez, and Goya, her sculptors are at least equal in merit with her painters. Damian Forment, Berruguete, Gregorio Hernandez, Juan de Juni, Pedro Millan, Montañés, Alonso Cano, Roldan, Mena, as well as others, are worthy to take a high place in the temple of Spanish art. And a fact of even greater importance: they have impressed upon their work the national character in a far stronger degree than any of the contemporary painters. It is interesting to note that many of these sculptors were also painters; and, in all cases, their carvings are more distinctly Spanish than their paintings. Almost entirely sculpture escaped from the slough of neo-Italian imitation, which did so much to ruin painting in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Spanish sculpture is finely realistic andimaginative. Sometimes fantastic to extravagance in its naturalness, it is always vigorous, romantic, and religious in the highest degree.
How is it, then, that sculpture is the branch of the national art least known beyond the bounds of the country? Rare indeed are the writers who have made a study of Spanish sculpture. A few good articles on the subject have appeared in France and in Germany; in England none. Even in Spain a quite inadequate attention has been given to this most important branch of the national art. There are, it is true, several excellent monographs, such as the works of D. José Gestoso y Perez on Pedro Millan, and that of D. Manuel Serrano y Ortega on Montañés. Then there is the very interesting study by D. José Marti y Monso on the artists of Valladolid. But these writings were limited to one artist, or to the works of one province. Until recently there was no work treating of Spanish sculpture as a whole, except theDiccionarioof Cean Bermudez, a book very excellent, but not free from error, and for the most part unimportant in its critical estimates. Like most Spanish writers, Bermudez praises work because it belongs to his own country, rather than because of its true artistic worth. It is well that this indifference is at an end. A criticalstudy of Spanish carvings, entitledLa Statuaire Polychrome en Espagne, finely illustrated with beautiful examples of the best carvings in the Peninsula, has now been written by M. Marcel Dieulafoy. The book was published in Paris in 1908. We would take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the help we have gained from this excellent work.
But the question remains unanswered why the carvings of Spain have been treated with such a want of interest. To find the answer it will be necessary to consider briefly the circumstances which determined the special character of Spanish sculpture.
Almost without exception statuary was executed for the religious uses of the Catholic Church. Images were needed to increase the pious fervour of the populace; they were used as altar decorations in the churches; often they were carried in the religious processions; and many of them were credited with miracle-working powers. The one thing necessary for a Spanish statue was that it should be an exact imitation of life; the more realistic the illusion the greater was the power of the statue to fulfil the requirements of the Church.
It will readily be seen that marble—the substance most fitting for the artistic rendering ofform—would not comply with these demands. Thus in Spain the classic marble was discarded, while wood and plaster were employed in its place. These substances could be readily coloured, or even covered with canvas resembling stone, and then painted to counterfeit life. Thus out of the religious requirements—which in Spain, so much more than in any other country, decided the expression of art—was developed a natural employment of multi-colouring, whose principle was the diversity of the various materials and the use of the two arts of painting and sculpture in the same work.
This almost universal use of colour—a relic of very ancient art—has really decided the fate of Spanish sculpture. For some centuries public taste was firmly decided in condemning statue colourisation as “an offence against good taste.†It is held that the true purpose of sculpture is to depict form, and that painting an image in relief is barbarous and shows a want of culture, because the sculptor, attentive alone to the beauties of form, should observe the limits set by the material in which he has to work, and should resist the seductions of colour which belong to the painter. Coloured statues have even been compared with the wax figures displayed in shows.
There is much to be said on both sides of the question. We shall not here try to answer it, for to do so would be to anticipate all that we hope to establish of the beauty of the polychrome statuary of Spain. Rather we would ask the reader to look now at the illustrations at the end of this volume. Great works are the only answer that can silence criticism.
Those who have condemned polychrome sculpture have, almost without exception, instanced its worst examples. This is absurd; it is like giving a judgment of painting by the pictures exhibited each year in the Royal Academy of London.
It must be remembered that polychrome statuary is a very ancient art; moreover, it is a perfectly natural and spontaneous development, growing out of the need for intensified expression. It was not an arbitrary practice adopted as “a trick of the trade.†This is important. Those who deny the use of colour to the sculptor have tried to prove that among the Greeks sculpture was anterior to painting, and that in the case of certain statues which we find coloured the painting was an injury added at a later date. This is entirely erroneous, as M. Marcel Dieulafoy proves by referring to the recent excavations made in Greece and Italy. The mostancient of the statues carved by the Greeks were those on which pigments were used. Carved out of wood, which lent itself readily to encrustations of bronze, ivory, and precious stones, as well as of colour, the figures were enriched in this way to give them a closer relation to life. Such was the bas-relief at Olympia in the Treasury of the Megarians, which represents a combat between Herakles and Acheloss, where the figures are carved out of cedar-wood richly embellished with gold; or the group of the Dioscuri, attributed by Pausanias to Dépoinos and Skyllis, where again the figures were enriched with films of ebony and of ivory placed upon the wood.
When wood gave way to marble and bronze, sculptors still continued the use of encrustation; especially a paste of glass was used to form the eyes of the figures. Often we find a gilded or silver necklace added. Bronzers tinted their statues, and in this way bronze had the aspect of colour. Silver was largely used. A very interesting example is furnished by Silamin of Athens, who, wishing to represent Jocasta in her last hour, silvered the face so skilfully as to give it the pallor of death.
Of even greater interest is a small bas-relief in the St. Angelo Collection in the Museum of Naples.It represents a maiden dressed in a double robe, the under one pale green, the outer one rose-coloured. She wears besides an upper garment of a darker colour and a white fichu bordered with red.
We find this custom of multi-colouring in the work of the greatest masters. We know that Phidias made use of gems and gold to heighten the beauty of his statues. Strabo wrote of his incomparable work in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia: “What adds greatly to its success is that his cousin the painter Panæus lent his talent in covering certain parts of the statue with brilliant colours, notably the draperies.†How significant is this statement to those who condemn the colouring of statuary!
It is purely arbitrary to maintain that relief and colour may not be united in art. Rather we may agree with M. Homobles when he declares that “the Greeks harmonised colour and form so perfectly that for them in the sixth century painting was a flattened bas-relief, and bas-relief a painting with the paste laid on very thick.†It is the opinion of M. Marcel Dieulafoy, founded, as he tells us, on researches pursued during more than half a century, that “no matter what the material—wood, stone, bronze, marble, terra-cotta—nor the epoch of production, the Hellenes accentuated with coatings and sometimes with coloured enamels the figures in bas-reliefs and alto-reliefs, unless in the case of juxtaposition with other materials of different colour.†Thus we are brought to the conclusion that those who condemn as barbarous the use of colour in statuary must condemn also the statuary of Greece.
Nor was multi-colourisation confined to the Greek sculptors. It was a natural development in the art of carving in every country, arising, as we have seen, out of the desire of the artist to bring his work into a closer relation with life. The Egyptians and the Chaldeans never limited themselves to the use of form in their statues and in their architecture, but sought for ways of rendering colour. The great Asiatic races used enamel as the basis of their decoration. Here we find the origin of the multi-coloured sculpture of Babylon, Assyria, and Susa, and, at a later date, that of Medea and Persia. This art reached Byzantium—a country which gained the highest skill in glass mosaic—and also Rome. Persian artists, following in the train of the conquering Arabs, brought the secrets and methods of their art to many European countries, and among them to Spain and Portugal. The influence spread alsofrom Byzantium, and, in a lesser degree, from Rome, and soon multi-colourisation was universally adopted, and all statues, whether of wood, stone, or copper, were covered with colour.
Centuries passed before a reaction set in. It became a creed of artistic faith that the use of colour to accentuate works in relief was barbarous. The reason of the change is very simple. Many of the ancient coloured statues had lost their colour by lapse of time, and those who saw them were deceived, believing that as they were then, so they had been created. Then pictures came to be painted more frequently, and colour was allowed to them, while form alone was accorded to statuary.
But the tradition of polychrome statuary yet persisted, and at the opening of the Renaissance still fought for life. Italy possessed some great statue colourists in the fifteenth century. We know of coloured statues and bas-reliefs by Donatello, by Mino of Fiesole, by Pisáno of Luca, by della Robbia, and others. Even much later we find examples of the continued use of colour. Such, for instance, are the equestrian statues of the ducal family of Sabbroneta and the groups in the chapels of the Sacromonte at Varullo. It is important to remember that the great mastersdeplored the abandonment of statue colouring, and, among others, Michael Angelo wrote an instructive and precious letter upon the subject.
Coloured statuary was more persistent in the south than in the north. Flanders, Germany, and afterwards France were converted from the custom. Yet Jan van Eyck collaborated with the sculptor, as did also André Beaunevau. The life-size statues which decorate the Château of Madrid built for Francis I., and those in the Toulouse Museum, taken from the Basilica of St. Sermin, prove that coloured statuary still persisted in the sixteenth century. These last figures are of special interest from their analogy with Spanish polychrome statuary.
It was in Spain that the art of polychrome lived and developed. The finest of her coloured statues were wrought in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and also in the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, a period when the practice was dead in almost all other countries. For this reason, even if for no other, Spanish carvings claim the attention of the student of art. They are the crown of what has been achieved by earlier civilisations.
What was it that kept Spain alone faithful to the old method of using colour as well as form to give life to her statues? First, a respect fortradition which has marked all things in this strong and stubborn race. Then the Spanish carvers were in very close connection with Mudéjar architecture, which was closely allied with the art of Persia, in which colour ruled with such supreme insistence, and whose whole strength lay in ornamentation. But deeper even than these outer reasons was the Spanish character, which expressed itself in their altar carvings and in their statues. The one thing the Spanish artist sought for first was the reality of life; and this life was religious life, for in Spain the divine life was not separate—a thing detached—but a real living part of the human daily life of the people. The painted statues were at once more life-like and spoke a more real language to the people, than figures chiselled in white stone. The statuary of Spain was not wrought, in the first place, to fulfil claims of art, but to satisfy the needs of the people. It is still in the convents and churches of Spain—not in the museums, if we except the museums of Valladolid and Seville—that the masterpieces of polychrome statuary remain. It is there that we must seek them.[B]
Thebeginnings of sculpture in Spain take us back to the middle years of the fifth centuryB.C.It is to this date, about 440B.C., that the beautiful sculptured bust of the Lady of Elche belongs. The figure was discovered in August 1897 at Elche, one of the most ancient and interesting of the old towns of Spain. Situated in the beautiful ravine of the Vinalapó, twelve miles distant from Alicante, Elche still retains almost unaltered its Arab character. It was the Roman Ilice, and probably the Iberian Helike, where Hamilcar was defeated. The town is especially fortunate in having possessed this treasure, which speaks so splendidly of the power and strength of Spain’s ancient art. This is the earliest and by far the most important of the antique statues of Spain—the one supreme example of primitive Iberian work. But alas! the Lady of Elche has beentaken out of Spain and is now in the Louvre at Paris.
It is a stone bust of a woman of life size. The lips and part of the hair still retain traces of red colour. The expressive face, delicate and yet strong, has suffered little. She wears enormous ear pendants of Oriental style, and two great wheels frame her head. Around her neck hangs a Greco-Phœnician necklace, such as women wore from the time of the Peloponnesian War. It is this that fixes the date of the statue. It would seem to be the work of a native artist who was under the combined influences of Greece and Phœnicia. Only a Spanish artist could have thus immortalised the character of Spanish womanhood. Indeed it is this special Spanish quality which is the most interesting feature of this remarkable work. Mr. Havelock Ellis has pointed out the resemblance which the Lady of Elche bears to Velazquez’ “Woman with the Fan.†And this is no fanciful idea. There is a strange likeness in all Spanish art—a likeness which is at once its strength and also its weakness, and which may be traced to the strong and persistent character of this race that has altered so little in the passing of the centuries. It is this marked individuality that speaks even more strongly in Spanish sculpture than in Spanishpainting. The Lady of Elche stands for all that is Spain.
Apart from the Lady of Elche no important single example of Iberian art remains to us. Statues have been found, such as theCirro de los Santosand theLlano de la Consolacion, which certainly were painted. M. Marcel Dieulafoy believes that this was also the case with the statue of a bull facing a bearded man, in the Museum of Valencia; that of the griffin and the anthropoid sarcophagus at Cadiz; and the interesting heads of bulls in bronze, found at Costig, Majorca, which bear some resemblance to the Susian bulls and Grecian bronzes, and, like them, have some parts gilded. Then it will not do to neglect the strange stone figures of bulls scattered in different places in Spain and Portugal, one fine example being in the square of Avila. Little is known as to the origin and purpose of these remarkable examples of Iberian art, but some still bear traces of vermilion colouring. The existence of these works, as well as many other notable fragments in different churches in Spain, prove at least that the native Iberian carver had attained a skill certainly remarkable at this early date.
But then followed, as is so often the case, a long night, of which nothing of special interest isknown. The Roman sculptures, which follow chronologically those of the Iberian epoch, are not remarkable in any way. They do not reveal any special character.
There are few sculptures left which can with any certainty be referred to the Visigothic period. The fragments discovered at San Romano de Hornija, at Toledo, and at Seville, though they bear vestiges of Visigothic workmanship, belong in reality to the Christian period. It would seem that the Visigoths for the most part limited their work to restoring the Roman buildings and adapting them for Christian uses. The ornamentation which they often added is usually of Byzantine origin, an influence reaching Spain through France. Yet the sumptuous character of their art is shown in the only important works of this period which remain: the splendid votive crowns of Kings Recceswinth and Swenthila, found in 1858 at Guarraza, near Toledo (Plate 1), and now in the Royal Armoury, Madrid, and in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. But these crowns are not Spanish works. Indeed many centuries separate the genuinely Spanish carvings of the Iberian artists from any work that again manifests the characters which belong to the native art.
It has been said by Professor Carl Justi, in ashort but excellent account of Spanish sculpture which is given in Baedeker’s “Guide to Spain,†that “the existence of works in stone can hardly be proved before the eleventh century.†This is a mistake. The early Christian carvings are in stone; they must be sought in Asturias, the provinces which first shook off the Moorish rule.
In 791 Alfonso II., known as the Chaste, made Oviedo the capital of the then struggling kingdom of Asturias. He was a ruler of ability and culture, and spent all his time when he was not fighting in building both churches and palaces. On his return from his campaigns he consecrated the spoils taken from the enemy to embellish his growing city.
The most important of the buildings of Alfonso is the Cámara Santa of the cathedral, once the Capilla San Miguel, which was part of the original church of Alfonso, and was built in the eighth century by his architect Favila. The room itself is small, without ornament, roofed with low barrel vaulting, and lighted with one small window. But here are guarded the relics in the Byzantine-Latin style, which are among the most interesting examples that remain to us of the work of the period. The Cruz de los Angeles, a work of the eighth century and the gift of Alfonso II., and theCruz de la Victoria, supposed to have belonged to Pelayo, both resemble very closely the crowns of Guarraza; like them, they are not typically Spanish work. That of the Angeles is of filigree work of exquisite delicacy, and enriched in the centre with rare encrusted rubies and other precious stones; while that of the Victory is made of wood, but Alfonso III. had it overlaid with gold and ornamented with jewels. A third relic, the cash-box of St. Eulalia, has its chief interest in the inscription in Arabic and Cufic characters which surrounds the cover. A special historical interest belongs to the relic known as the Arca de los Santos. The cover, on which is engraved the figures of the Apostles, and the Latin inscriptions belong, by the character of the vestments, which are those described by St. Isidore, and by the letters used, to the sixth or seventh centuries; while the Saviour and angels on the box itself, the inscriptions in Cufic lettering, as well as the general style of reliquary, have the characters which belong to the Spanish works of the eleventh and early years of the twelfth centuries. The explanation, of course, is that the casket was restored and its character altered at a later date, and probably in the reign of Alfonso VI. This mingling of different styles and periods in onework of art meets us continually in Spain. It is due in large measure to the custom by which the Spaniards used and borrowed the arts of the Moors, even for long after they had conquered them.
There are a few works in the Madrid Archæological Museum which are in the Latin-Byzantine style, and should be compared with the treasure of the Cámara Santa, and to the same period belong other relics now in different churches in the Peninsula.
In the reign of Alfonso the Chaste were built the churches of San Tirso and San Tulliano or Julian, which, though unfortunately much restored, may still be visited in Oviedo. Belonging to an even earlier date was the Church of Santa Cruz de Canjas, which was built by the royal architect Favila, in Alfonso’s reign, and which was the original church on the Monte Santo, the site where the cathedral of Oviedo now stands. This church was rebuilt by Alfonso II. in 830, and surrounded by protecting walls. The ancient Spanish chroniclers expatiate on the magnificence of these buildings of Alfonso, speaking of their columns of marble, and wealth of decorations of gold and silver. Doubtless they exaggerate; to-day there is very little of interest to be seen remaining in the edifices.
Much more important are the buildings erected by Alfonso’s successor, Ramiro I. (843-850), a king of unusual culture, who, in spite of continual wars with the Moors, found time to carry further the improvement of the royal city of Oviedo. During this reign, writes M. Marcel Dieulafoy, “there was a veritable renaissance of the plastic arts.†Two of these buildings that we owe to Ramiro I. are still in existence, and though sadly neglected and disfigured by alterations, they should be visited by all who take an interest in early Spanish work. They stand together on the summit of the low mountain Naranco, which is situated one and a quarter miles from Oviedo. The first, the Church of San Miguel, is a basilica with nave and aisles. We recognise in the heavy pillars with splayed capitals and massive polygonal bases, as also in the frequently used cord and twisted fringe, so characteristic of the period, a marked Byzantine character. Many sculptured subjects occur among the foliage which decorates both the bases and capitals of the columns. These heads must be attributed either to the Roman traditions or, as is more likely, to the early French schools. The other church is even more interesting. Santa Maria de Naranco probably formed part of Ramiro’s palace, but the building was convertedinto a church about the year 905. It consists of a cellar-like nave, with waggon vaulting, opening by three arches into a choir at one end and a presbytery at the other. Below is a crypt. Here the work shows strong Roman influence, and most precious details of ornament occur.
Another church of great interest belonging to this early period is that of San Pedro in the ancient city of Zamora. True bas-reliefs are here introduced among the leafy decorations of the capitals: one, still in excellent preservation, represents the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. This is very remarkable—one of those surprises that meet the student so often in Spanish art—for the Byzantine sculptors did not customarily use the human figure in such circumstances.
This bas-relief brings us to the very few Spanish statues of this period, when all the skill of the artists seems to have been spent in buildings. There is the small ivory crucifix, formerly painted and encrusted with gems, in the Museum of Leon (Plate 2), and the crucifix of the Cid, now at Salamanca (Plate 3). Both are Byzantine in character. The little-known statue of the Virgin and Child, preserved in the sanctuary of Ujué, is a work of greater interest. The figure is ninety-one centimetres in height, and dates, M. MarcelDieulafoy thinks, from the eleventh, or even the end of the tenth century. The colouring, and also the primitive character of the work, has been spoiled to some extent by added ornaments, and by the silver throne on which the figure now sits. But there is real strength in the face of the Virgin, and more individuality than is common in the Byzantine figures; again we have a hint of Spanish work.
Figures in stone, dating back to the eleventh century, and earlier, may be found on the portals, fonts, and tombs of many Spanish churches, especially in the N.W. and in the district of the Pyrenees. Most of them are of barbaric workmanship, but many are interesting. A painted sculpture of the Saviour seated in the act of blessing, in the Byzantine manner, was discovered in 1895 at Santander. M. Marcel Dieulafoy, who mentions this work, places it in the tenth or the eleventh century.
These few statues, then, are all that we have of Latin-Byzantine art in Spain. Rude as the figures undoubtedly are, falling far below the works of the native Iberian art which preceded them, it will not do to neglect them. Christian Spain was convulsed with ceaseless warfares, which gave little time for the development of thearts. Native talent slept. Christian monarchs employed Moorish sculptors, architects, decorators, and goldsmiths. So it happened that there was developed in Spain a sort of pseudo-Mozarabic style in which, for a time, the characteristic Spanish work seemed lost.
Atthe close of the eleventh century a new and more vigorous life sprang up in the art of Spain. The fresh impulse came from France; it expended itself chiefly in building.
It is necessary to remember that the geographical barrier of the Pyrenees forms no real ethnological separation between that country and Spain; one and the same Iberian race dwells in Gascony, Navarre, and the Basque provinces. Hence it is easy to understand that natural relations, intimate and frequent, grew up between the two countries. Marriage alliances united the two royal families, and the princes of France crossed the frontier to fight against the Moors in Spain. With them came priests and monks, more learned than their neighbours, many of whom settled in the Peninsula. In this way the influence of the great orders of Cluny and Citeaux spread and grew powerful.Then followed architects and sculptors from Aquitaine, Languedoc, Toulouse, Burgundy, and Normandy, to find work, and impress their separate influences on the numerous churches that at this time were being built. The Romanesque cathedrals are indeed the direct outcome of French mediævalism; and the figure-statues of the numerous tombs and altars are full of reminiscences, so that it is difficult to distinguish the native art. Yet in the midst of these imported styles we shall find, do we seek them, those distinct traits which belong to Spain.
It is in the province of Asturias that we find the greatest number of Romanesque churches. These churches were of moderate size. Their style was that of the basilica, with nave and aisles, a well-marked transept, a trans-apsidal termination, and a lantern or dome over the crossing. The roof was at first flat, but afterwards the nave was covered with barrel vaulting, and the aisles with quadrant or semi-barrel vaulting.
The most important of the early Romanesque churches is Santiago de Compostella (Plate 7), which was commenced and finished building during the twelfth century. It is a somewhat simplified copy of St. Sernin at Toulouse, and shows in its structure, as well as in its ornaments andsculptures, very clearly marked, the influences of Cluny. This explains the great excellence of the carvings (Plates 8 and 9); works that are surprising at this period when so many figures are still barbaric. The admirable Puerta de las Gloria, which was completed by the carver Maestre Mateo in 1188, after twenty years’ work, is held by Mr. Street to be “one of the greatest glories of Christian art.†It is a vestibule or porch, divided into three sections, which extend across the entire width of the nave. The quadri-partite vaulting of the roof is adorned with elaborate carvings. Still more sumptuous are the carvings of the doorways; one, the double doorway which opens on the nave, has exquisitely delicate carvings. On the shaft dividing the doorway into two is a seated figure of St. James, holding theburdonor pilgrim’s staff; while the shaft itself has carvings of the Tree of Jesse. The shafts in the jambs have figures of the Apostles and Major-Prophets. The main capital above represents the Temptation in the Garden and Angels ministering to Christ. At the back of the middle pillar is a kneeling figure, supposed to be the portrait of Maestre Mateo. Then in the tympanum is a seated figure of Our Lord, with upraised hands; and round Him are the Evangelists and eight angelswith the symbols of the Passion, while above are a company of the worshipping elect. The archivolt shows figures of the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse. The general idea of the subject of the whole doorway is the Appearance of Christ at the Last Judgment, but each of the series of small pictures is in itself an independent work of art. The side doorways which lead into the aisles are equally ornate. The shafts are adorned with figures of the Apostles; above are representations of Purgatory and Hell. All the figures are clearly painted. M. Marcel Dieulafoy does not think, however, that the tones which now show are the original colours, but that during the restoration in the seventeenth century some innovations occurred.
The Colegiata de San Isidoro at Leon (Plate 10), an early Romanesque edifice, resembles in many respects Santiago de Compostella. The actual date of the building is difficult to establish. It was founded by Ferdinand I. of Castile in 1065 as a royal mausoleum; and the building is said to contain the tombs of eleven kings and twelve queens. It was altered and rebuilt by Maestro Pedro Vitambeu, and was not consecrated until 1149, while even then much of its decoration was probably incomplete. Some subjects of sculptureand ornamentation are very analogous to St. Sernin, Toulouse. The main façade is decorated with quaint old reliefs in stone; above the right portal are the Descent from the Cross (Plate 11) and the Deposition in the Tomb, with St. Paul on the right hand and St. Peter on the left. Then in the tympanum of the left portal is a very interesting Sacrifice of Abraham, placed under a zodiacal frieze. But perhaps the most interesting parts of the building are the chapel and cloisters of the eastern aisle, where the groined vaults are covered with fresco paintings of admirable effect and preservation. The paintings show strongly the influence of France, curiously interpreted by the native art. C. Gasquoine Hartley writes, in “A Record of Spanish Paintingâ€: “In colour and certain peculiarities of outline they are strongly French, but they are executed with a rugged and original force which is entirely Spanish.... The Bible narratives are executed with a direct and almost brutal baldness that at once marks the frescoes as the work of a Spaniard.†We are, however, chiefly interested with their colourisation, which is very important where so much of the colourisation of statuary has disappeared. As M. Marcel Dieulafoy points out, these frescoes give the range of tones usual to this epoch in France and in Spain. Wefind red-brown, indigo, yellow-ochre, and white; the black seems to have been obtained by a mixture of three of these colours. It is interesting to note that these are the colours, and of about the same shade, that we find used by the Persian artists in their decorations.
San Vicente of Avila (Plate 13) is another admirable example of the Romanesque churches. The nave, with its triforium and clerestory, is in a pure Romanesque style; while the transept, choir, and three semicircular apses are in the Transition style. Though the building was begun in the twelfth century it was not finished until three hundred years later, and for this reason it shows a more advanced art. M. Marcel Dieulafoy holds it to be “the most beautiful specimen and the purest example of Burgundian architecture in Spain.†The west portal (Plate 14) is decorated with admirable statuettes in terra-cotta, unfortunately much mutilated, whose style recalls that of St. Landre of Avallon. Very curious are the heads of bulls, decorating the base of the pilaster by which the tympanum is sustained. Here the analogy with the bicephalous capitals of the Achemenide is very marked.
Romanesque churches are found in other provinces of Spain. One of the most ancient isSan Pedro of Huesca, which was begun in the eleventh century and consecrated in 1241. The church is roofed with barrel vaulting, and terminates in three semicircular apses. It contains many sculptures characteristic of this period.
The cloisters of the Cathedral of Gerona, and those of the Monastery of Santo Domingo at Silos, and of San Pedro, and the churches of Santa Maria and Santiago at Corunna, are additional examples of the same style.
The Cathedral of Zamora (Plate 15) is a more important edifice. This ancient city had in succession two French archbishops—Bernard and Jerome de Perigneaux. It is probable that the church was erected during the episcopate of Jerome, who died in 1126. It was consecrated in 1174, as is now known from that date discovered in an old epitaph during the restoration in the eighteenth century. This makes impossible the old belief that the church was built by Bernard de Perigneaux. M. Marcel Dieulafoy believes that it is the work of an Aquitaine architect. Both the exterior of the building, with its square tower, graceful cupolas, richly decorated, and the interior are interesting, with a character very rare in Spain. Of the carvings of this church M. Marcel Dieulafoy writes:“From the sculptural point of view I would signalise in the portal, the corinthian columns and niches, which both seem to come down from a monument of the decadence of the Roman age. One will notably remark the busts, bezel set in a sort of window, which has been seen in the monuments of Roman Gaul, on the northern slope of the Pyrenees, and which became a most common feature in the architecture of the Spanish renaissance; also the laurelled flying-arch, and the bas-relief of the spandril which crowns the busts.â€
Two Romanesque churches, one belonging to the same period, the other to a later date, with a more advanced art, are the church and fine cloisters of San Pablo del Campo of Barcelona (Plate 16) and the Cathedral of Sigüenza. This last church, which was begun in 1102 and consecrated in 1123, was not completed until the thirteenth century. It is the most important example of the late-Romanesque Transition style. San Pablo was originally a Benedict convent, erected in 914 by Count Guitardo, but the building was restored in 1117 by Guiberto Guitardo, and is an excellent specimen of early Catalan architecture. Like San Pedro of Huesca, it has three parallel apses. The nave and transept are covered with barrel vaulting, andabove the crossing rises an octagonal cupola. On the chief portal are carved figures of St. John and St. Matthew; and especially interesting are the carved capitals of the columns, both those in the church itself and even more those in the cloisters, where we find cusped arches in the Saracenic style, coupled shafts, and richly decorated capitals.
In all the Romanesque churches the greatest wealth of the carver’s art is lavished on the capitals of the columns. Here we see Bible scenes and purely decorative designs, alternating, often very strangely, with fantastic monsters, fables, and scenes from daily life. Almost all of these carvings are truly Spanish in their sentiment, though the foreign influences are always visible.
The Romanesque period lasted longer in Spain than in France; we do not find the Pointed or Gothic style before the twelfth century, when the Cistercian order introduced the severe and noble Burgundian type of church. But many old churches, though begun in the Romanesque period, assumed a Gothic character before their completion; we find this at Tarragona, in the old Cathedral of Salamanca, and in those of Londa and Tudela, as well as in many other churches. In the Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos, celebrated as the church where Edward I. of England was knighted byAlonso the Learned, the church, dating from 1279, is in severe Gothic style; the cloisters, too, are Gothic, but in the earlier Claustreo (Plate 17) there are fine Romanesque capitals and arches. Again, the older and less-known Cistercian Abbey at Verula is a Transition building, while the beautiful cloisters of the fourteenth century are Gothic.
This mingling of styles, owing to the difference in time between the building of different parts of the same church, has a real advantage to the student of Spanish architecture and sculpture. The Cathedral of Tarragona (Plate 18) especially furnishes an almost complete series of examples of all the Spanish art-styles. For the church, built on the site of a mosque, was begun about the year 1118, and dates mainly from the end of the twelfth and first half of the thirteenth centuries, but additions were made from the fourteenth century onwards as late as the eighteenth century. Thus we have examples of early Christian art in a sarcophagus of the façade, and that in the ancient window of the Capilla Mayor with the three Byzantine columns. The main building is a brilliant example of the developed Romanesque Transition style; the beautiful cloisters, among the most perfect in Spain,and the earliest of the side chapels are Gothic; the other chapels, added later, date from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and are in the Renaissance and baroque styles. Even Moorish art is represented in theazulejoroofing of the N.W. lateral chapels, and in the small Moorish window, said to be a prayer niche ormihrab, with its Cufic inscription dating from the year of the Hegira 347—that is, 958A.D.—in the ancient Capilla de Santa Maria Magdalena. The splendid doorway, with elaborate carvings, which gives entrance to the cloisters is the most notable pre-Gothic work in marble in Spain (Plate 19). But of this work we shall speak in the next chapter.
Following these early Gothic buildings we have the developed French cathedral style of the thirteenth century introduced into Spain. It is first seen in the great cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo (Plates 20 and 21), and a little later in that of Leon (Plate 22), the most perfect of the Gothic cathedrals in Spain. Very little of the national Spanish art is visible in these buildings; built for the most part by French architects, they recall in turn the cathedrals of Rheims, Beauvais, Bayonne, and Amiens; some see in Leon a copy of the great cathedral atChartres. The truth is that the style of these buildings is eclectic; they are all distinguished by the romantic magnificence of their ornamentation. The elaborately carved choir-stalls of Leon Cathedral (Plates 23-29) furnish a splendid example of the power of carving. They are the masterpiece of John of Malines and the Dutch artist Copin. It was from carvings such as these that the native artists drew their inspiration.
Duringthe Romanesque and, even more, in the early Gothic periods the creative forces of art in Spain found its expression, after building, in carving in stone and wood. A wealth of ornament meets us in every building, for it must be remembered that the churches are the real museums of Spain. We have in the last chapter spoken incidentally of some of these carvings in connection with the churches for which they were executed. It is now necessary to examine in detail the most representative of these works. Among them we shall find many beautiful examples of polychrome statuary.
All the statues of this time were coloured, for Spain, always tenacious in her habits, never wavered from the custom of colouring her carvings to resemble life. However, few pieces retain manifest traces of such colourisation, the tints having been lost through the action of the atmosphere, as well as through frequent washings. The statues in the Gloria of Santiago de Compostella (Plate 30) are among the earliest works that are clearly painted, and even in these, as we have seen, it is very doubtful if the present tints represent the original colours used.
For this reason a very special interest attaches to the fine font in enamelled bronze, now in the Museum of Burgos, which came from the monastery of Santo Domingo at Silos. This remarkable and fine work is coloured and richly encrusted with gold and jewels, but of these unfortunately many have disappeared. Seated on a throne, the figure of God the Father occupies the centre, and ranged on either side are the twelve Apostles. The figures are set in a kind of frame formed by columns placed on a base of metal crossed by horizontal bars. Two winged monsters are in the triangles on either side, and a dove is placed above the figure of God. Small rectangular enamelled medallions are encrusted in the frame. Colour is used for the robes of the figures, for the winged monsters, the dove, and the medallions, the predominant tints being dark blue or vivid green. The heads, the hands, and the feet, as well as the architectural motives, are all in gold. Polished stones in bezel settings alternate in the decorationof the frame with the coloured medallions, and though many of the stones have disappeared this rich setting helps the effect of the whole bas-relief, which is one of great splendour.
Besides the altar font the old monastery of Silos possessed a rich collection of religious furniture. Among those which have been saved are a chalice, used under the Mozarabic ritual for celebrating the communion, a very beautiful specimen of themudéjargoldsmith’s work; an altar-screen of engraved copper with figures of the Apostles; and several small cofferets or caskets. One of these, composed of an elephant’s tusk, belonged to Rahman III., Khalif of Cordova, at the beginning of the tenth century; another, made at Cuenca in 1026, is of ivory, and represents a Mussulman: it was mounted in enamel at a later date (about 1150).
The ancient Convent of San Marcos at Leon is another church which has retained its ancient treasures; among them are several polychromes. These do not seem to have been repainted. Unfortunately half of the precious collection has been stolen: those that remain are now in the Museum at Leon. The figures are carved in wood, and the head, hands, and nude parts are coloured. The vestments, made of cloth, hardenedby means of a glaze, are also coloured, the tints used being very harmonious. There is also a carved triptych in wood of the same date, but the carving of the figures is not so good and the colours used are cruder. The statue of San Francisco (Plate 31) belongs to a later date. It is a most interesting polychrome, with splendid character in the rendering of the head. In the Cathedral of Leon are various statues which belong to the same period, while in the cloisters is an interesting bas-relief, Our Lady del Foro and the Offering of the Kings (Plate 33).
Some fine carvings, in the French style, come from the Portenda de San Miguel, Estella. This style of carving spread over the whole of Spain, and additional examples may be seen in the Cathedral of Sangüesa, in two interesting and little-known churches at Olete, in the Cathedral of Basque Vittoria, and in the old churches of Leon and Valencia.
Statues on tombs are very numerous, and we find them in almost every church. At first the figures are rudely carved, the skill of the artist being expended on the frames, and the cast of the features being largely a convention. Indeed these early monumental figures cannot be regarded as portraits. Among the first examples are thefigures on the royal monument at Najera, erected by Sancho III. 1157. Here the figures are mere puppets. Another early tomb is that in the Convent of Las Huelgas, Burgos (Plate 34). Even the sarcophagus of St. Eulalia, at Barcelona, of as late a date as 1327, with its Pisan reminiscences, shows how easily art was sometimes satisfied at this period.
But there are some really fine tombs belonging to the Romanesque period. The Church of the Magdalena—formerly of the Templars—at Zamora contains two knights’ tombs, one of which M. Marcel Dieulafoy considers the finest Romanesque tomb in Spain. The figure, just expired and resting on the death-bed, is placed beneath a portico of twin balustrades which crown the structure. Fantastic animals are carved on the spandrils, and the columns and capitals are richly decorated. The couch stands against a wall, on which are sculptured seraphs, while two angels bear away to Paradise the materialised soul of the dead man wrapped in a winding-sheet. This device is common in Spain, where there are many tombs of the same character, but, writes M. Marcel Dieulafoy, “I do not know of one where the decorative sculpture is rendered more boldly or with greater talent.â€
The statues, once funeral monuments, but now set into the wall of the old Cathedral of Salamanca, are important as being among the most complete examples of the twelfth-century polychrome (Plate 35). The sarcophagus, the reclining figures, and the niches containing them are all painted—red, blue-black, and white being the predominating tints. There are some traces of yellow, probably due, as M. Marcel Dieulafoy suggests, to the sizing used in fixing the gilding; there are also some green tints in the foliage which decorates the arch in one of the tombs. Fortunately these statues have suffered very little from the hand of the restorer. The statue of Diego de Anaya on the tomb in the Capilla de San Bartolomé, to the south of the cloisters, is another work of importance in the same cathedral. It is quite ideal in its treatment.
The Cathedral of Tarragona represents the same diversity in its statuary as we have noted in its architectural styles. Thus the statuary of the west façade may be divided into three distinct groups. The first, date about 1278, consists of the beautiful sculptured figures of nine Apostles, placed on the main portal, which were carved by the Catalan artist Maestro Bartolomé (Plate 36). The Apostles and Prophets on the buttresses wereexecuted a century later by Jaime Castayls, another native Catalan carver. They are clumsy and of ordinary character compared with the delicate work of Maestro Bartolomé. The group of the Virgin and Child which is placed above the pillars of the great door is not native work, but comes certainly from France. The author is unknown.
The cloisters and portals of the Cathedral of Burgos offer another example of an admirable museum of sculpture. The earlier carvings—such, for instance, as the figures on the Apostles’ door (Plate 37), belonging to the opening years of the thirteenth century—are somewhat stiff and constrained in style and contrast with the graceful ease of the later works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Plate 38). The special interest of the cloisters is that its carvings are coloured, and fortunately up to the present they have not suffered from restoration (Plates 39-41). The colours are faded, but we can see that the vivid reds and blues, so much loved by the Moorish artists employed by the Christians of this period, were used, as well as a preponderance of gilding. Here, as at Salamanca, the general tone of the colourisation is in themudèjarstyle.
The cloisters of Pampeluna are in the same style and little inferior to those of Burgos. Thestatues and bas-reliefs are in stone; the most beautiful, and one of the finest examples left to us from the fourteenth century, is that which represents the Death of the Virgin. Unfortunately the colouring of this piece and of all the statues at Pampeluna has been ruined by restoration.
The Cathedral of Burgos is rich in Gothic tombs. The statues of St. Ferdinand and Beatrice of Swabia, on the north wall of the cloisters, are among the finest specimens of portrait sculpture. In the same place is the late Gothic tomb of Don Gonzalo de Burgos. The monument of Archbishop Maurice (died 1238), which is in the centre of the choir, is also a work of special importance, showing, as it does, the skill of the Spanish artists in enamelled copper (Plate 43). Of the same style is the tomb of Jaime of Aragon (Plate 46), who died in 1334, in Tarragona Cathedral, and two monuments in the Cathedral of Leon, that of Martin, the first bishop of the city (Plate 47), the other of Don Ordoño II., who died 923 (Plate 48). All three monuments are of excellent workmanship, and important as fine specimens of portrait sculpture. We may mention also the sarcophagus of St. Vincent and his sisters, SS. Sabina and Criseta, in the Church of San Vicente at Avila (Plate 49), with notable reliefs of the thirteenth century, and surmounted by a Gothic canopy of a later date—about 1465—resting upon coupled columns. But indeed it is difficult to make a selection among the numerous monuments that claim attention. One work stands out as a masterpiece. The magnificent tomb of Archbishop Lopez de Luna, in the Seo of Zaragoza, is the most splendid example of the French-Gothic style in Spain (Plate 50). Even so calm a critic as Professor Carl Justi pronounces this work “a masterpiece.†Mitre on his head, a cross in his hand, and dressed in rich pontifical robes, the figure reclines on the sarcophagus. The face, set in the calm of death, is modelled by a master hand. Behind, placed in a niche which is cut in the thickness of the wall, stand a company of monks and nuns, who weep for their benefactor. Other figures are grouped along the inner face of the tomb; each is marked with character, and is carved with fine skill. But it is not possible to convey in words the effect of this splendid and simple work. In its style it may be compared with the mausoleum of Philippe the Bold, the masterpiece of Burgundian art. It is of the same date, and M. Marcel Dieulafoy believes that the Spanish monument must have been executed in Spain by Aragonese artists who had learnt theart of carving in France. This opinion of French influence directing the native artists is supported by the fact that the Tarragona monument is not a solitary example. This French style of carving spread over the Peninsula; the cathedrals of Burgos, Leon, and Toledo—to name a few out of many churches—are rich in similar monuments. It is necessary to remember this close connection between the arts of France and Spain. The great ecclesiastical orders of France, and especially that of Cluny, gave inspiration to the Romanesque and Gothic periods. It was not until the last third of the fifteenth century, when a new art method came from the Netherlands, that the French influence weakened. Spanish art was almost invariably stimulated from without. But it was these imported art-styles, naturally awakening imitation, which called into existence the native schools of carving, and showed anew those distinct traits which can be called Spanish.
There were at this time, in Castile and Aragon, a number of really capable native artists; without doubt they learnt their art from the French sculptors who had settled in Spain. The most skilful native worker was Juan de la Huarte, of whose exquisite Virgin we shall speak directly. But besides Juan de la Huarte, we know of Pedro deVallfongona, called Father Johan, who has left many fine carvings; and Jordi Johan, doubtless his brother, commonly known as Maestro Jordi, maker of images, the author, among other works, of the Sepulchre of Juana, Countess of Asturias (1386), and of the Archangel Raphael, which crowns the beautiful doorway of Barcelona Town Hall. Then there was Pedro Oller, who carved, in 1450, the screen of the grand altar of Vich, and, in 1442, the tomb of Ferdinand I. of Aragon. There were also skilled goldsmiths such as Marcos Canzes and Francisco Vilardell; nor must we forget the unknown author of the incomparable Custodia of Vich Cathedral, a splendid example of the silver-work of the period.
Before closing this chapter it is left to notice a few isolated works that are treasured in the different cities of the Peninsula. And first must come the perfect statues and statuettes of the Virgin, which, as we might expect in religious Spain, are to be found in almost all the great churches. That known as the Virgin of Huarte, which was carved by Juan de la Huarte, was brought to Pampeluna in 1349. The statue is of white marble, and the face and vestments still bear traces of colour. Of a noble simplicity, it is one of the most exquisite productions of art in the fourteenth century. Of less ideal beauty, but more Spanish in its sentiment, being without the French influence, is St. Ferdinand’s small ivory statuette of the Virgen de las Batallas in the Capilla Real of Seville Cathedral. This is one of the earliest works of the kind in Spain. The Cathedral of Plasencia has several images of the Virgin. Good examples—one in silver and richly jewelled—are found at Burgos and Salamanca (Plates 51 and 52), besides figures carved in wood and coloured, and also at Toledo, Sigüenza, GandÃa, Segunto, and the churches in many other cities. The Santo Cristo of Burgos Cathedral may also be mentioned. Madonnas are to be seen over the altars of chapels, in gateways, or in the great retablos, as for instance at Leon (Plate 53), or again at Tortosa and Palma, where, in the last church, a really beautiful statue is hidden by a modern altar. Among these Madonnas are works full of dignity and sweetness, of genuine beauty, and carved without stiffness or looseness. They give a convincing defiance to those who decry ancient polychrome.
Very different in character, but of equal merit, is the small statue, silver painted, of St. George in the Audiencia Chapel at Barcelona. M. Marcel Dieulafoy believes that we owe this fine work to anative artist. The figure, standing fully armed, is carved with youthful energy; the face, seen under the gilt visor, has lost none of its freshness, and the original tints of colouring remain. The armour is of oxidised silver, while the hinges, nails, belt, dragon, and pedestal are of burnished gilt. Of this statue M. Marcel Dieulafoy writes: “Had Meissonier painted the figure he could not have done it otherwise.†Again we have a triumph of polychrome.
Other statues worthy of special mention are the busts, executed in enamelled silver, of S. Valerius, S. Vincent, and S. Laurent, in the Treasury of Zaragoza Cathedral; the figures of Don Gutierre de Cardenas, Duke of Magueda, and of his wife, Doña Teresa Enriquez, each offering respectively their son and daughter to the Virgin, and the finer praying figure of Juan II. of Castile, who ruled from 1406 to 1454, and was the father of Isabella the Catholic. These statues are in Burgos Cathedral. Gems among smaller works of art are the plates in silver, showing scenes in the life of the Virgin, which cover the high altar in the Cathedral of Gerona. Their date is 1348.
Thealtar-screens, of great size, and known in Spain as retablos, which meet us in every church may be considered as the most entirely characteristic expression of the country’s art. Nowhere has the development of the altar-screen assumed such importance. The huge retablos of Spain stand alone both in their dimensions and in their magnificence. In these works were joined the common efforts of the architect, the sculptor, and the painter. Of a size and with a wealth of decoration so great that often an examination of their detail is fatiguing, they represent the most exhaustive examples of the creative thought and power of representation of the native artists.
Their evolution is interesting and curious. At first we find them as screens of pagan and Roman origin, and dating back to the middle of the twelfth century. But the pagan screens were adapted byChristians, who gave to them the name diptycha of the Apostles, of the Martyrs, and of the Saints, and used them as portable altars, and also largely as votive gifts, their richness being in proportion to the wealth of the giver and the importance of the subject depicted. We have several examples in the Camara Santa of Oviedo Cathedral and in the Camarin of Santa Teresa, Escorial (Plate 55). The Tablas Alfonsinas in the Sacristia Mayor of the Cathedral of Seville is another and more important example. This treasure is specially interesting, as it shows the actual use made of these folding tablets. It was the altar of Alfonso the Learned, and was presented by him to the cathedral in 1274 after he had used it in battle; for in Spain these altar-screens were carried by Christian generals travelling in the campaigns against the Moors. As the Reconquest progressed their importance increased, and we have triptycha and pentaptycha as well as diptycha; their number multiplied as they became richer and grander in ornament. They were connected with the deepest religious feelings of Christian Spain, being used by the Paladins to pray to before plunging into battle. Later, from portable altars they became fixed altars in churches. From this time their size and magnificence increased, the religious sentimentassociated with them explaining, as we believe, both their frequency and their importance in the art of the period.
A selection of the most admirable altar-screens alone would make a long list. Almost every church and all the great cathedrals furnish examples; they are especially numerous in the churches of Catalonia and Navarre.
The altar-screen in the Romanesque church of San Feliú, though less known than those of Zaragoza, Barcelona, Tarragona, Pampeluna, and Burgos, is important as a very beautiful and early example of these retablos. It is in two distinct sections, which stand upon a widely spreading base. The first or central part is in three storeys, which are supported by Gothic pillars, and in the nine niches stand statues of the saints. These, as well as the bas-reliefs and carvings on the pillars, are of great vigour, and the effect is strengthened by the admirable painting and gilding. The second part of the screen is composed of two wings, on which are carved the figures of the prophets, surrounded by rich foliage. These too are painted and gilded.
The creative power displayed in these retablos is often surprising. But it must be admitted that their general effect is less satisfactory than anexamination of the parts in detail would lead us to expect. The artists would often seem to have been hampered by the huge size they had to ornament. Continuing the accustomed forms, evolved for use in screens of more modest dimensions, they have gained the desired amplitude of ornament by a multiplication of the same forms that is often wearying. But granting this, it is among these works that many important and beautiful statues will be found. For this reason they cannot be overlooked by the student of Spanish polychromes.
No altar-screen in Spain is more beautiful or more worthy of study than the one in the Capilla Mayor of Tarragona Cathedral. It illustrates the life of St. Tecla, the disciple of St. Paul, and the tutelary saint of Tarragona, who was martyred, according to legend, on this spot. We read the story in the delightfulLégende Doréeof Jaques de Voragine:—
“St. Paul was seized and conveyed to prison, whither his disciple Tecla followed him. The apostle and the maiden were judged together, and together condemned: he to be beaten with rods and driven from the city, she to be burned alive. She threw herself joyously on to the pyre, but immediately a heavy shower of rain fell from the sky and extinguished the flames; also a greatearthquake occurred, in which perished a great number of pagans. By this means Tecla was enabled to escape. She took refuge in the house where St. Paul was living, and was overjoyed to meet the inspirer of her conversion. She wished to cut her hair and travel with him, disguised as a man. But this the apostle would not permit, for she had great beauty.â€
In the Tarragona screen charming pinnacles crown a bas-relief representing the Virgin and her Child, to the right and left of which stand St. Paul and St. Tecla, figures of heroic size, who regard the group with pious emotion. Beside them are bas-reliefs, most minutely executed, representing scenes in the saint’s life. In one we see her as described by Voragine, with serene face, her body nude, and praying in the midst of the flames which envelop without burning her. Angels encourage and sustain her, while below are seen the grinning heads of the damned. In another scene the saint is surrounded by reptiles and wild beasts in the cave into which she was thrown; and in yet another she stands beside a bull, destined to drag and crush her body among the stones of the road. Between the bas-reliefs are statues of prophets, apostles, and saints; and on brackets, in the midst of foliage, repose female saints withsmiling faces. All the figures are carved with great skill, and besides there is a wealth of detail—flowers, foliage, animals, and insects—all of which are treated with surprising ability.
The colourisation of the screen, like most marble and alabaster monuments, has suffered from repeated and careless washings. But the carvings preserve everywhere vestiges of paint and gilt, so that it is possible to reconstruct the scheme of colour. This is curious—generally blue and gold, with only a few touches of red and brown, which M. Marcel Dieulafoy suggests may be due to the artist’s desire to surround St. Tecla by the virginal and holy atmosphere which would be suggested by this manifold and unusual use of blue tones. This realisation of the spiritual expression of a legend is very characteristic of Spain, whose artists possessed as their greatest gift the power of rendering a story just as they felt it had happened.
We owe the Tarragona altar-screen to a native Catalan artist. It was begun in 1426 by Pedro Juan de Vallfongona, who executed the bas-reliefs and statues of the first two stages, while at the same time the artist Guillermo de la Monta worked on the architecture and ornaments. But in 1436 Pedro Juan, gaining favour from the beauty of hiswork, was called to execute an altar for Zaragoza Cathedral, after which he only retained a sort of inspectorship over the work at Tarragona, which was finished by Guillermo de la Monta.
Pedro Juan worked on the Zaragoza altar-screen until his death in 1447, aided by Pedro Garces, Guillermo Monta, and Pedro Navarro. For some reason the work was suspended for twenty-six years, when, on account of the great age of the original collaborators, it was entrusted to Gil Morlau, with Gabriel Gombao to aid him in the inferior parts. Finally the screen was completed and gilded and painted in 1480.
The altar-screen of Zaragoza has some fine bas-reliefs; the most important is that of the centre, which shows the Adoration of the Magi. The Virgin, seated, presents her Babe to the Kings, figures of vigorous life and great dignity, who bend in worship as they offer their gifts; behind, a group of figures represent a crowd of onlookers. On either side of this central composition are bas-reliefs representing scenes in the Transfiguration, lives of the Virgin, and Ascension of Christ: these are the work of Pedro Juan.
Another important retablo, which follows in date the work of Pedro Juan, is that in theCapilla de Santiago (Plate 56) in the Cathedral of Toledo. It is made of larch wood, and carved, gilded, and painted in the richest Gothic style. The bas-reliefs represent scenes in the New Testament; all the figures are life size. We owe this work to the artists Sancho de Zamora, Juan de Segovia, and Pedro Gumiel, and it was begun at the end of the fifteenth century. In the same chapel at Toledo are the six magnificent Gothic tombs of Don Ãlvaro de Luna, the work of Pablo Ortiz, one of the most famous carvers in the fifteenth century (Plate 58). Another interesting altar-screen is that in the Capilla de la Trinidad (Plate 59).
In the carvings of these later altar-screens and tombs a new influence will be traced; for, in the last third of the fifteenth century, what may truly be termed a revolution in style took place in Spanish sculpture. A stronger realistic tendency, with a more marked individuality in the portraits, will be seen. The characteristic features are more emphasised, the gestures more free and more individual. Waved lines give place to broken ones, rounded surfaces to sharp-edged ones. This heightened vitality was due not only to a greater mastery of the technical part of sculpture by the native artists, but to a newly imported art inspiration, which now began to mingle with,and even to replace, the influences of France and Burgundy.
Up till about 1400 Spain was loyal to France, and kept her artists as her teachers and advisers. Afterwards Burgundy displaced France, and we have the far-reaching influence of the great ecclesiastical orders. Now followed the rule of the Netherlands and of Germany. In the fifteenth century Spain was brought into close connection with the Low Countries. The intermarrying of the royal houses of Burgundy and Hapsburg united the Northern countries first with Portugal, and afterwards with Spain. The result of this union was a great advancement in Spain’s art. The first of the Northerners to come to Spain were painters, and we have the visit of Jan van Eyck, in 1428, with its far-reaching consequences to Spanish painting; then followed architects and sculptors. A Flemish painter was adopted by the Count of Aragon about 1440; and the Cartuja of Miraflores has a small altar-screen of which the wings were painted by him. The archives of Toledo mention a great number of Flemish artists of renown, who settled and worked in the city, among whom were Juan and Bernardino of Brussels, whose names are often mentioned by Cean Bermudez, and the four brothers Egas from Eycken, one of whom,Anequin, was appointed architect of the cathedral by the chapter, and directed the work of the sculptures of the Gate of the Lions, being assisted by Fernandez de Liena and Juan Givas, also an architect of the cathedral. Then we know that at Burgos worked the Colonia family, Juan, Simeon, and Francisco, who carved the woodwork of the cathedral and that of the Cartuja of Miraflores. There were also Northern artists in Seville. Mateo and Nicolas were skilful goldsmiths, and Cristobal—all of whom probably came from Germany—was a painter on glass. Juan Aleman, in 1512, finished the choir-stalls of the cathedral, George Fernandez Aleman carved the retablo, while another artist of the same name, Rodrigo Aleman, sculptured the wainscoting of Palencia Cathedral, whose invention and humour, Professor Carl Justi says, recall the South German masters.
These Northern artists, widely distributed over Spain, brought about the transformation of art of which we have spoken. The native artists readily absorbed their influence. We now meet a marked change in the direction of realism. The Christs are long, lean, and emaciated, the Virgins are older; we have sharply defined outlines, and the religious scenes and legends are depicted with a stronger and more passionate understanding.
The altar-screens were still the most important works that were executed. An interesting example, which shows very clearly this new expression of realism, is an altar-screen in the Museum of Valladolid, which came from the Convent of San Francisco (Plates 60 and 61). It is carved in walnut wood, and there are traces of painting. The figure of Christ is strangely emaciated, the Virgin is older, while all the figures are strongly characterised; there is a very considerable amount of creative thought and power in the presentment of the scene. The author of the work is unknown.