english - Museo Nacional de Escultura

Colegio de San gregorio 

College of Saint Gregory 1488-1496 

Juan Guas y Gil de Siloe, attribution 

Limestone 

The main Museum building since 1933, 

this College was built in the late 15th 

century (1484-1499) on land ceded by 

the nearby Dominican house, the Convento 

de San Pablo, on the initiative of 

Fray Alonso de Burgos, Bishop of Palencia 

and an important statesman in 

Spain during the reign of the Catholic 

Monarchs. For centuries, this was one of 

the most prestigious intellectual centres 

in Castilla, producing theologians, 

mystics, writers and inquisitors including 

Bartolomé Carranza, Luis de Granada, 

Melchor Cano or Bartolomé de 

las Casas, who with great zeal founded 

universities and bishoprics in the Indies, 

were royal counsellors, took part in the 

spread of the teachings of Erasmus and 

in debates on the treatment of the indigenous 

peoples and defined the position 

of Spain at the Council of Trent. 

From an artistic viewpoint, this is one 

of the most interesting examples of the 

architecture of the late Gothic period in 

Spain, the Hispanoflamenco style which 

as its main characteristic uses profuse 

decoration to cover the most important 

features with a stone ‘tapestry’, 

repeating certain background elements 

in a rhythm clearly inspired by Mudejar 

art. The central patio, the stairway 

and the façade of the College of Saint 

Gregory are where this spectacular ornamental 

and sculptural display can be 

seen best, with the insistent repetition 

of the fleur-de-lis —the emblem of Fray 

Alonso de Burgos— together with the 

coats of arms and symbols of the Catholic 

Monarchs, the patrons of the college. 

There is no surviving documentary 

evidence of who the architect was, but as 

Juan Guas is known to have been involved 

in the building of the chapel and the 

motifs and style are similar to his other 

work, he is considered to be the most 

likely architect of the whole building. 

The College of Saint Gregory has 

maintained the essential elements of 

its original morphology. It is arranged 

around a great square central patio 

with two floors. The lower gallery has 

slender spiral columns with a restrained 

decoration alluding to Fray Alonso, with 

the Dominican cross and his fleur-de-lis 

on the capitals and coats of arms at the 

corners and in the centre of each side. 

The most important decorative work 

appears on the upper gallery. It follows 

a similar architectonic design: segmental 

arches on spiral columns, joined 

with openwork parapets or balustrades. 

Resting on these are smaller colonettes 

separating twin bays and supporting 

spandrels profusely decorated with fleurde-lis, 

garlands and cherubs. 

A decorative frieze runs round the top 

of the patio with the symbols of the Catholic 

Monarchs (the yoke and arrows) 

and their arms. That the pomegranate 

or granada does not appear here suggests 

that the patio predates the capture 

of Granada in 1492 and that it was also 

built before the façade of the building, 

where this motif is used. A series of gargoyles 

representing fantastic creatures 

can be seen around the edge of the roof. 

Many of the rooms needed for collegiate 

life are arranged round this great 

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central patio. Today it is still possible to 

judge the importance of the use of each 

space by the sculptural detail on the doorways; 

the most richly decorated lead 

into community areas such as the lecture 

rooms, the library, the Chapter house 

or the refectory; the decoration is more 

restrained or almost non-existent on the 

doors to the cells or rooms of the individual 

members of the community. 

The walls of the magnificent staircase 

which joins the two floors of the 

central patio are covered with a rich 

decoration which brings together the 

three artistic trends which coexisted 

at the time in Spain: gothic tracery 

on the balustrade and lower part of 

the walls, Renaissance rusticated stonework 

on the walls and a Mudejar 

artesonado ceiling. 

The façade of the College has a unique 

place in the architectonic sculpture 

of Spain and has been the object of 

attention ever since it was built. Designed 

in sections like a retable, it is 

completely covered with a stonework 

tapestry of plant and foliage motifs 

(tied bundles of branches, plaited willow, 

thistle leaves) and heraldic motifs 

(the fleur-de-lis, emblem of Fray Alonso 

de Burgos), encapsulating a complete 

iconographic programme dedicated 

to the greater glory of the founder and 

of its patrons the Catholic Monarchs. 

A great arch frames the lintel of the 

doorway forming a tympanum with a 

symbolic representation of the foundation 

of the College: Fray Alonso de 

Burgos is shown kneeling to offer the 

building to Pope St Gregory, in the presence 

of St Dominic, the founder of 

the Dominican Order which the Bishop 

belonged to and of St Paul (the patron 

saint of the nearby convent). 

The upper part of the façade is taken 

up with a fountain with a pomegranate 

tree emerging from it, possibly representing 

the Fountain of Life and Tree 

of Knowledge, symbols of the Paradise 

to which Man can only return through 

knowledge. The great coat of arms of 

the Catholic Monarchs imbues the whole 

monumental façade with a triumphal 

exaltation of the monarchy. The magnificent 

stone retable is completed with 

two strong piers carved with warriors 

and savages, the former a symbol of virtue 

and the latter as guards of honour, 

both protecting the central emblem. 

The name of Gil de Siloe, often mentioned 

as the possible artist of the façade 

is certainly the most likely of all those 

who have been suggested, both for the 

style and the originality of the design. 

Please leave this information 

sheet in the stand in the patio. 

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Coffered Ceilings 

The building of the College of Saint 

Gregory must have begun at the end of 

1487 and although the first members 

of the College were already admitted 

by 1496, work continued in the early 

years of the 16 th century. This monumental 

complex, profusely decorated 

according to the fashion of the time, 

was immediately acclaimed with enthusiasm 

by its contemporaries. The 

architecture and its rooms with their 

unending succession of gilded and polychrome 

ceilings worked with splendid 

craftsmanship, led the Portuguese traveller 

Pinheiro da Veiga to describe it in 

1605 as ‘a golden jewel and the most 

exquisite piece most finely finished of 

its size I have ever seen.’ 

The building was well conserved until 

the Desamortización in 1835, when 

the property of the Church was confiscated 

and from then on it suffered 

from inappropriate uses as a prison, a 

barracks and offices. This, combined 

with the prevailing poverty of the time, 

led to some of the great rooms being 

demolished and the disappearance of 

several of the coffered ceilings, including 

those from the College library or 

the sumptuous corridor which links the 

entrance courtyard with the chapel. 

This process of deterioration was 

halted when the building was declared 

a national monument in 1884 and the 

complete restoration was begun of the 

patio and much of the rest of the building 

in the years that followed; even so, 

in some areas such as the cloister or the 

small entrance patio, the roof beams 

had to be completely replaced because 

they were in such bad condition, 

although the original decoration was 

reproduced. 

The installation of the Museum in 

the building in 1933 reinforced further 

the exceptional character of what had 

been conserved and led to a continuing 

policy to restore the whole building 

with the installation of several ceilings 

from other buildings which were demolished 

during the second half of the 

20th century, in Valladolid itself and in 

other parts of Spain. 

Along the route of the permanent 

exhibition, the ceilings of particular interest 

belonging originally to the College 

are mentioned below: 

Room 1: the Renaissance-style decorated 

wooden panelled ceiling or 

alfarje has 24 large beams resting on 

corbels, with polychrome lions and 

the fleur-de-lis of the arms of Fray 

Alonso de Burgos, with carved and 

gilded bosses and mocárabes – decorative 

motifs resembling stalactites. 

In both Room 3 and Room 4 the alfarjes 

are Renaissance in style, made of 

great beams with polychrome caissons, 

although the one in Room 4 is not so 

well preserved. Both these ceilings are 

decorated with angels’ heads, sphinxes, 

garlands, fruit and other Renaissance 

motifs, with the coat of arms of Fray 

Alonso de Burgos prominently displayed 

on the roof boards. 

Rooms 6 and 8 on the upper floor 

have two magnificent artesonados which 

together with another even larger one 

which disappeared in the 19 th century, 

formed the ceilings of the library. The 

two which have survived are ochavos (on 

an octagonal plan) resting on squinches 

decorated with the coat of arms of the 

founder, although some are partly missing. 

They have a Renaissance decoration 

on the friezes and a large cone of mocarabes 

in the centre. The ceiling in Room 

6 is decorated with gilded caissons and 

bosses and the decoration in Room 8 is 

Mudejar-inspired knotwork. 

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Continuing through the permanent 

exhibition, the ceilings installed in the 

Museum from 1935 onwards include 

the following interesting examples: 

In the Rest Area, between Rooms 

14 and 15, there is a large choir gallery 

with a Renaissance coffered ceiling, 

dating from 1540 and acquired by the 

State in 1962, which was originally in 

the church of San Vicente de Villar de 

Fallaves (Zamora). Made of pine with 

no polychromy, it is designed as threesided 

with two large triangles at the 

front, and the whole surface is covered 

with hexagons and octagons, finishing 

in a rail with slender balusters. 

Eight medallions show warriors and 

female figures and three have the Maltese 

Cross, as the church belonged to 

the Order of the Knights of Malta. 

The flat ceiling in Room 15 is carved 

wood, painted white with gilded 

details, acquired in 1935. Dated c. 1752, 

it came from the Palacio del Marqués 

de Monsalud in Almendralejo (Badajoz). 

With Portuguese influence, it has 

profuse sculptural decoration mixed 

with plant and mythological motifs: a 

golden sun is surrounded by abundant 

foliage and birds, with the figures of 

Eros and Mercury and the chariots of 

the four winds - Boreas (N), Euros (E), 

Notos (S) and Zephyros (W) according 

to Greek mythology. 

In Room 16 there is a coffered ceiling 

which was the roof of the former 

church of el Rosario, reconstructed in 

1535 when it was incorporated into 

the royal chapel of the Palacio Real de 

Valladolid. Demolished in 1952, this 

ceiling was installed as part of the Museum. 

In the Mudéjar tradition it combines 

Muslim inspired decorations with 

Renaissance elements, all finished off 

with a cluster of mocárabes. 

Room 17 has a Renaissance coffered 

ceiling made of pine with a plant motif 

decoration from the mid 16th century. 

Acquired on the art market in 1969, it 

must have decorated a now demolished 

palace. 

Installed in Room 18 there is part 

of the panelled ceiling or alfarje of the 

cloister of the Monasterio de San Quirce 

in Valladolid. This was designed between 

1620-25 by Francisco de Praves, the Royal 

architect. It was demolished in 1965 

and part was acquired by the museum; 

its simple structure, appropriate to a 

classicist patio, is composed of beams 

resting on corbels and caissons with little 

decoration. 

In Room 19 there is an octagonal coffered 

ceiling resting on squinches in Mudejar 

style with a decoration of knotwork 

and two clusters of mocárabes, dated c. 

1522. This is from the former Hospital de 

San Nicolás de Olmedo (Valladolid). Taken 

down in 1962, it was acquired by the Museum 

two years later. 

In Room 20 there is another octagonal 

coffered ceiling in the Mudejar tradition 

decorated with knotwork and clusters 

of mocárabes, dated around 1530 

and largely reconstructed. This comes 

from the transept of the church of San 

Nicolás de Castroverde de Campos (Zamora) 

and fortunately survived the for- 

tuitous collapse of the building in 1970, 

and was then acquired by the Museum 

in 1974. 

This exceptional group is completed 

with the monumental coffered ceiling, 

originally part of this building, which 

roofs the staircase of the patio. This 

octagonal ceiling, decorated with knotwork 

and three great clusters of mocárabes, 

was restored in 1860 as all its 

original polychromy had disappeared. It 

is outstanding for the decoration of the 

lower frieze or arrocabe with the initials 

F and Y of the Catholic Monarchs along 

with other floral motifs. 

Please leave this information sheet 

in the stand in the entrance hall at 

the end of your visit. 

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ROOMS 1 and 2. A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE 

Pietà around 1406-1415 

Germanic 

Polychrome stone 

The sculptural theme of the Pietá was 

widely used in the Germanic countries 

from 1400 and originated in the devotion 

to the Virgin Mary during the liturgy 

of Holy Thursday. The mourning mother 

with her dead son, removed from 

any spatial-temporal context, is the 

favoured support for meditation on the 

death of Jesus, inspired by the literature 

of the mystics. From then on it was to 

become a favourite and recurrent theme 

in art. 

The genre of this sculpture is known 

as the ‘beautiful Madonnas’, elegant 

figures with delicate, intensely expressive 

faces, dressed in robes falling in 

many folds with decorative rhythmic 

curves used to imply a refined movement 

of the mother’s body in tragic 

contrast to the static immobility of 

the son. This sculpture represents the 

Virgin Mary as a tender young woman, 

weeping in fear, hardly able to support 

the rigor mortis of the large naked body 

laid across her lap. 

This sculpture is of central European 

provenance and is from the chapel of 

the Bishop of Palencia, Sancho de Rojas, 

in the cloister of the Monasterio de San 

Benito el Real in Valladolid. (Room 1) 

Retable of Saint Jerome around 1465 

Jorge Inglés 

Oil on panel 

This retable of St Jerome was commissioned 

by Alonso de Fonseca, the 

Archbishop of Seville and member of 

an influential family of the Kingdom of 

Castile, represented in this work by the 

coat of arms. This is one of the finest 

examples of the wider international 

context of art in Castile at this time as 

the artist, who was from northern Europe 

and familiar with Flemish painting, 

worked for the marqués de Santillana. 

Beneath the structure of gothic canopies, 

scenes from the life of the great 

translator of the Bible are shown in a 

narrative sequence of the main events, 

with anecdotes and details. The central 

scene shows the scholarly Saint writing 

amid the tools of his trade, accompanied 

by the lion, which appears in some 

episodes of the legend of the saint and 

is one of his characteristic symbols. On 

the predella, the figures of Christ as 

Man of Sorrows, the Virgin and St John 

are shown flanked by various saints. 

The work is characterized by its naturalism 

and the tragic, concentrated 

realism of the characters. The extraordinary 

mastery of the drawing is enhanced 

by the fascination for the variety 

and material quality of the objects, 

the stiff angular folds and the search 

for depth and perspective in the chequered 

floors and the inclusion of the 

landscape. (Room 1) 

ENGLISH

Retable of the life of the Virgin around 1515-1520 

Brabant, Antwerp? 

Walnut 

This altarpiece reveals the export of 

Flemish carvings to Castile, where they 

were highly thought of. The box-shaped 

structure with curved edges identifies 

it as work produced in the city of Antwerp 

around 1515. 

Carved in walnut, the retable is divided 

into three panels, separated by 

Gothic columns, showing five scenes 

from the life of the Virgin, ordered 

chronologically from left to right and 

top to bottom. the Birth of the Virgin, 

the Annunciation, the Birth of Jesus, 

the Adoration of the Three Kings and, in 

the centre, the Descent from the Cross. 

In the lower part this shows the Mourning 

of Christ and above, an incomplete 

Calvary scene, outlined against the 

background of Jerusalem depicted as a 

contemporary Flemish city. The reliefs 

rest on ledges adorned with plant motifs 

with openwork canopies above. The 

altarpiece was originally a triptych with 

two doors. 

A detailed analysis of the scenes 

allows the hand of different artists to 

be distinguished, evidence of the usual 

creative process, where different artists 

would work to the orders of the master 

craftsman. The upper parts of the two 

side panels are outstanding in their delicate 

composition and exquisitely detailed 

execution; the rest present greater 

volumetric and expressive force and 

marked realism in the characterization. 

The whole transmits abundant information 

on the age in which it was 

made. The devotio moderna, a religious 

movement active in the 15 th century 

which encouraged a more intimate 

relationship with beliefs, tinged the religious 

with the everyday, bringing the 

sacred up to the present day. (Room 1) 


in the stand in Room 1. 

The Holy Kindred around 1510 

Swabia or Franconia 

Wood with traces of polychromy 

In Spain, the most common representation 

of St Anne in the late Middle 

Ages was in a group of three. mother, 

daughter and grandson, but in the north 

of Europe the apocryphal legend of 

the triple marriage became very popular. 

According to this version the mother 

of the Virgin, after the death of St 

Joachim, remarried twice more, with 

Salomé and Cleophas. Her descendants 

and extended family included up 

to twenty five characters —daughters, 

sons-in-law and grandchildren. In the 

thematic purge of the Council of Trent 

this version was condemned and the 

doctrine reinstated of the chastity of 

St Anne. This relief shows a reduced 

version of the genealogy, in a representation 

of the three main figures with St 

Joseph and the successive husbands of 

St Anne. 

This is a fine example of the quality 

attained by many workshops in the 

south of Germany at the end of the 

15 th century and early 16 th century. The 

unfortunate loss of much of the polychromy 

allows an appreciation of the 

detail of the work. the wrinkled faces, 

detailed hair and the veins under the 

skin of the masculine figures. (Room 2) 

ENGLISH

ROOMS 3, 4 and 5. THE STYLE OF ALONSO BERRUGUETE 

Saint Sebastian 

Great retable of San Benito el Real 1526-1532 

Alonso Berruguete. Polychrome wood 

Although this Saint was often represented 

in the Middle Ages dressed as 

a knight with bow and arrows, from 

the quattrocento onwards the image 

was used of the first martyr, allowing 

the Renaissance artists to convert the 

Saint into an emblematic nude masculine 

figure. This can be seen here in 

this sculpture with the adolescent body 

tensed from the intense pain, bound to 

the curved trunk to receive the impact 

of the arrows, in an agitated writhing 

rhythm; even the golden locks of hair 

fall forward, following the same rhythm. 

Although the mouth is half open the 

facial expression is melancholic, rather 

than agonised. The loin cloth is made of 

fabric and stuck onto the sculpture. 

Berruguete’s treatment of volume 

can be clearly seen in this sculpture, 

giving the impression of movement by 

breaking the equilibrium and the idea 

of frontality by displacing the legs and 

arms in opposite directions, disjointing 

the figure. (Room 3) 

The Adoration of the Magi 



This is one of the most beautiful reliefs 

of this altarpiece. The scene is arranged 

below a scallop shell as portal. The elegantly 

serene figure of the Virgin centres 

the composition, adorned with a classical 

headdress, and holding on her lap a 

sturdy Baby Jesus displaying his sexuality 

as the sign of his human condition. 

Following the medieval symbolism, 

both these figures are proportionally 

larger to emphasize their hierarchical 

importance. On the left, the figure of 

St Joseph, with his calm attitude tinged 

with grandeur, is the counterpoint to 

the impulse which pushes the Magi to 

their agitated adoration. 

The density of the figures in a very 

small space, forcing their positions and 

the predominance of the figures over 

the space distances this work from 

the Renaissance principles and places 

it within the Mannerist movement. 

Chromatically warm tones are used, 

with gold and ochres and the rosy 

flesh colours of the ‘encarnado’. The fi- 

gures are outlined against the rich polychromy 

of the underlying gold of the 

estofado and the background of the 

relief. The estofado technique uses a 

background of gold leaf applied to the 

sculpture, which is then covered with 

polychromy and scored with decorative 

patterns to allow the gold to show 

through. (Room 3) 

ENGLISH

Saint Mark and St Matthew, Evangelists 


Alonso Berruguete. Grisaille on panel 

Considered as the pillars of the New 

Law, the authors of the Gospels are 

often represented on 16 th century altarpieces 

as an allegory of the doctrinal 

basis of the narrative sequences 

contained in them. The retable of San 

Benito includes two paintings on board, 

showing St Mark and St Matthew writing 

the sacred texts. 

Here the grisaille technique is used 

for these figures, painted using white, 

black and a range of greys imitating 

relief, giving an effect of sculpture by 

applying the colour on large edged pla- 

nes. Depicted in an ethereal space, the 

silhouettes are outlined against a gold 

background reminiscent of an unfinished 

mosaic, with classicist echoes learned 

in Italy in a magnificent adaptation 

of the medieval tradition to the Renaissance 

aesthetic. 

An apparently distracted St Mark 

strokes the head of the lion, his symbol, 

while a beautiful female figure illuminates 

him in his task as chronicler. St 

Matthew is shown working on his text 

with the help of a young boy posing as 

his easel. (Room 4) 

Sacrifice of Isaac 



This subject was chosen by Signoria in 

Florence in 1402 for the doors of the 

Baptistery and then became widely 

used. God required Abraham, the patriarch 

of the Israelites, to sacrifice his 

son to demonstrate his faith. Abraham, 

captured here at the moment when 

he is just about to make the sacrifice 

to obey the divine command, is one of 

the most personal creations of Berruguete. 

This is the perfect image of desperation, 

with every detail proclaiming 

his dramatic situation. At his feet Isaac, 

loosely bound and unresisting, seems 

to accept his fate. 

This work presents a dynamic structure 

and an extraordinary plastic power 

shown in multiple points of view but 

which do not reduce the cohesion of 

the group. The contrast of the circular 

disposition of Isaac which reflects his 

submission, and the ascending, supplicant 

stretching of Abraham, manages 

to exteriorize his violent tension reinforced 

by details as apparently insig- 



nificant as the sharply pointed beard 

which seems to pierce the patriarch’s 

breast. (Room 5) 

ENGLISH

ROOMS 6 and 7. ARTISTIC VARIETY IN THE 16 th CENTURY 

Adoration of the Shepherds first third of the 16 th century 

Gabriel Joly, attribution 

Natural wood 

Just two scenes form the subject of this 

small retable or altarpiece made for the 

private chapel of the Prior of the Monasterio 

de la Mejorada de Olmedo: 

the Adoration of the Shepherds on the 

main panel and above it the Crucifixion. 

Around the edge of the crowning piece 

can still be seen the figures of two putti 

holding a garland and the remains of the 

more complex ornamental composition 

which completed the altarpiece. 

The two reliefs show a naturalist 

approach with an exquisite attention to 

detail. The Adoration of the Shepherds 

is represented as an outdoor scene with 

a foreground composition of figures divided 

into two groups around the small 

figure of the Infant Jesus. A background 

scene of imaginary architecture and irregular 

perspective leads into a third level 

showing the angel appearing to the she- 

pherds, with the figures becoming smaller 

in size and the sculptural workmanship 

demonstrating extraordinary skill. 

(Room 6) 

Bust of the Emperor Charles V around 1520 

Anonymous, Flemish 

Limestone 

The importance the House of Austria 

gave to the official image of its members 

is shown in this very early portrait 

of the future Emperor Charles V with 

his long face, jutting jaw and hanging 

lower lip, wearing a hat with large plumes 

and the collar of the Order of the 

Golden Fleece. The bust may date from 

around 1520, close to the time of his 

coronation in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) 

and represents an immature face, 

still lacking the energy and power of 

the mature portraits of the Emperor. 

Two similar portraits can be seen in 

museums in Bruges and Ghent. Pietro 

Torrigiano may have introduced the 

typology of the Florentine bust into 

central Europe, although the formal 

language of Flanders is still used, the 

same as can be seen in the religious 

works in Rooms 1 and 2, but used here 

to highlight the political importance of 

the subject. (Room 7) 

ENGLISH

Choir stalls from San Benito el Real 1525-1529 

Andrés de Nájera and others 

Natural and polychrome wood 

At the beginning of the 16 th century the 

Catholic Monarchs pressed for a reform 

to reorganize the Benedictine Order in 

Spain and create a Congregation which 

grouped together its religious houses 

in the Kingdom of Castile and some 

of those in Aragon. The centre was the 

Benedictine Monasterio de San Benito 

el Real de Valladolid where the abbots 

from the different houses met at regular 

intervals to discuss monastic matters. 

Precisely for these meetings, as well 

as for the liturgy of the Benedictine 

community in Valladolid, it was agreed 

that a set of choir stalls should be made 

and that the abbot of each monastery 

would have his own seat in the upper 

row, depending on the date when he 

entered the Congregation. 

The choir stalls have forty places. 

Thirty four correspond to each of the 

monasteries in the Congregation with 

the remaining six for its benefactors. 

Each stall in the upper row has the 

name of the monastery on the back, 

the name of its patron saint, founder 

and religious or lay person related to 

it on the seat, and on the cresting, the 

arms of the monastery or of its founder, 

carved with polychromy, between small 

carved statues. The only polychrome 

seat corresponds to the Abbot of the 

Monasterio de San Benito de Valladolid 

itself, emphasizing that this was the 

most important monastery of all. 

The backs of the twenty six stalls 

in the lower row represent a narrative 

sequence of the life of Christ and of 

the Virgin and some specific devotions 

from the lives of the saints. At the ends, 

on either side of the central aisle, the 

two royal couples —the Catholic monarchs 

and Charles V and Isabel of Portugal— 

proclaim the royal protection 

for the Benedictine Congregation and 

their close links with it. 

There is very little surviving documentation 

referring to these choir stalls, 

but the agreement is known by which 

each abbey promised to pay the cost of 

an upper and a lower seat, to help with 

the costly commission to be carried out 

by a team of craftsmen. The formal similarities 

of the compositional design 

and decoration with the choir stalls in 

the Cathedral in Santo Domingo de la 

Calzada have identified the master craftsman 

Andrés de Nájera as the probable 

mastermind of the whole work. 

The group of artists who took part in 

the carving of the choir stalls include the 

sculptor Guillén de Holanda, and others 

linked with workshops in Avila. Among 

the different reliefs, the seat back corresponding 

to the Monasterio de San 

Juan de Burgos stands out for the quality 

of its representation of St John the 

Baptist and from the beginning was at- 

tributed to Diego de Siloe, because of its 

relationship with the Italian models, its 

mastery of the anatomy and the elegance 

of the gestures. 

The lower and upper stalls present 

an exquisite and varied ornamentation 

mostly made up of grotesques and other 

renaissance motifs, carved or inlaid on 

the seat backs. (Room 7) 



ENGLISH

ROOM 8. THE DRAMATISM OF JUAN DE JUNI 

The Burial of Christ around 1540 

Juan de Juni 

Polychrome wood 

The group of figures in The Burial of 

Christ was created by Juan de Juni for 

Fray Antonio de Guevara, the illustrious 

Franciscan, chronicler of the Emperor 

Charles V and Bishop of Mondoñedo 

and was originally in his funerary chapel 

in the former Convento de San Francisco 

in Valladolid. According to descriptions 

which have survived, the group 

was in the centre of a plasterwork altarpiece. 

This structure and the figures 

of two soldiers which guarded the scene 

disappeared when the convent was 

demolished. 

This scenographic representation 

of the Burial of Christ is designed to 

be viewed from the front. There are 

seven figures: the main figure of the 

dead Christ articulates the arrangement 

of the other six who are distributed 

symmetrically about an imaginary 

axis passing between the Virgin and 

St John, following a completely classical 

design. Each figure has a counter- 

part on the other side of the group with 

a similar movement and attitude, and 

their kneeling or standing positions are 

conditioned by the frontal view of the 

whole group. 

The figure of Christ rests on a sarcophagus 

with the coat of arms of Fray 

Antonio de Guevara. The polychromy 

of the majestic body and head, with 

the violet tones of the bruises and blackish 

dried blood, suggests long drawn 

out suffering and with the broken and 

disjointed hands is what transmits 

most expressively the horror of death. 

The other figures show their reactions 

to the corpse: the Virgin, inconsolable, 

stretches out her arms to her 

Son, gently held back and supported 

by St John. On the left, Salomé and 

Joseph of Arimathea (appealing to the 

onlooker to take an active part in the 

scene) show the effect of their deep 

physical and moral suffering in their 

strained faces, worn and dull. On the 

right, Mary Magdalene, the most delicate 

figure in the group, transmits 

her sorrow with a whirling movement 

reflected in her flowing garments, while 

Nicodemus raises his eyes to heaven 

in agonised supplication. They are all 

involved in the tragic task of laying 

out the body: removing the thorns, 

cleaning the wounds, perfuming it for 

burial, as shown by the objects they 

are holding (jugs, cloths and jars of 

perfume). 

In the 17 th century the group was 

painted over, hiding the beautiful polychrome 

estofado. In 1978, a slow, laborious 

process restored the original 

appearance, leaving only the back of the 

figure of Nicodemus as evidence of how 

it had been painted. (Room 8) 

ENGLISH

Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint John the Baptist 1551-1570 

Juan de Juni and Juan Tomás de Celma 


In 1551, Doña Francisca Villafañe commissioned 

the sculptor Juan de Juni and 

his disciple Inocencio Berruguete, to 

produce an altarpiece dedicated to St 

John the Baptist for her funerary chapel 

in the church of San Benito el Real de 

Valladolid. This was where the sculptures 

of St John the Baptist and Mary 

Magdalene displayed in this room 

came from. 

These two figures can be considered 

as authentic masterpieces within 

the work of Juni; the wood is imbued 

with the full power of the artist and 

the sculptures are charged with enormous 

emotional force As is usual in 

this artist’s work, this is shown in their 

intense twisting movements, the full 

and intricately folded garments they 

are wrapped in and by the facial expressions 

—of rapture for St John and 

of mourning for Mary Magdalene. 

St John was the patron saint of the 

altarpiece and the figure which set the 

standard for the quality of the whole 

group. The arrangement and powerful 

anatomy of this figure is a complete 

catalogue of powerful lines, inevitably 

reminiscent of the Hellenistic sculpture 

of Laocoön and his sons. The saint 

is shown pointing with his index finger 

to the lamb as in the text Ecce Agnus 

Dei, and with the left hand holding 

part of the cross-shaped staff which 

is one of his attributes. The sculpture 

of Mary Magdalene, holding the base 

of the perfume jar, conveys all the 

courtesan’s beauty and sensual passion 

in her attitude. (Room 8) 

San Antonio de Padua around 1560 

Juan de Juni 


Juan de Juni carved this statue of St Anthony 

of Padua for the funerary chapel of 

Francisco Salón de Miranda in the Convento 

de San Francisco de Valladolid. St 

Anthony was a Franciscan born in Lisbon, 

who died in Padua after an intense life 

dedicated to preaching. 

The iconographic episode chosen by 

the artist to represent the saint corresponds 

to one of the most significant and 

popular scenes in the story of the saint’s 

life: the apparition of the Child Jesus on 

the book which the Franciscan used as 

the basis of his preaching on the mystery 

of the Incarnation, with the vision 

seeming to emanate from the text itself. 

The strange position of St Anthony, 

in an ascending spiral, with one foot on 

the ground and the other knee resting 

on the trunk of a tree, seems to capture 

the fleeting instant when he is both 

amazed at the apparition and trying 

to kneel in adoration. The attitude of 

the child strangely echoes the position 

of the Saint, but facing in the opposite 



direction. The two figures gaze at each 

other intensely, converging in mystical 

communication. 

The polychromy of the sculpture with 

its polished encarnado for the flesh and 

complex estofado work on the rounded 

folds of the habit, may have been modified 

in the 17 th century when the border 

was painted with a fine brush and 

glass eyes were added to the two figures. 

(Room 8) 

ENGLISH

ROOMS 10 – 13. ART UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF ROME 

The temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot 1553-1559 

Diego Rodríguez and Leonardo de Carrión 


These reliefs belong to the main altarpiece 

of the former church of the Hospital 

de San Antonio Abad in Valladolid. 

According to the ancient ecclesiastical 

tradition, St Anthony was a young 

Egyptian who retired to the desert 

around the year 290 to practice fasting 

and penitence. Following his example 

during the following two centuries, 

groups of Christians abandoned normal 

life and there may have been as many 

as five thousand anchorites living in the 

wildernesses of the Nile. In the delirium 

of his solitude, St Anthony was tormented 

by devils and their temptations, as 

shown in these two scenes with their 

magnificent polychromy. 

One relief shows the saint being 

beaten by a horde of devils to force him 

to sin. In the other he is assailed by lust, 

in the shape of an apparently respectable 

woman, but with a she-devil’s horn. 

This legend arose out of the controversies 

in ancient Christian circles over 

permanent sexual renunciation. In the 

religious context, St Anthony embodies 

the melancholy temperament. In this 

state of mind the anchorite debates 

between the discouragement caused by 

religious doubts and wicked thoughts, 

and the serenity of the contemplative 

life. (Room 10) 

Saint Onuphrius 1575- 1600 

Juan de Anchieta, attribution 

Alabaster 

The representation of hermit saints 

within the iconography of the late 16 th 

century responded to the desire to 

emphasize the importance of penitence 

for the Catholic Church in contrast 

to its denial by the Protestants. This led 

to the revival of some medieval devotions 

to hermits who had withdrawn to 

the solitude of the forest or the desert 

and who now became important again 

with the new values to be promoted. 

St Onophrius is one of these holy men, 

with the distinctive representation of 

his physiognomy taken from his legend, 

which describes how he covered 

his nakedness with his hair and beard 

which were never cut. 

This sculpture is similar to the style 

and models of the Romanist sculptor 

Juan de Anchieta. The alabaster figure 

is presented in a frontal pose, accentuating 

the strong anatomy and 

concealing the nudity with the device 

of the long hair. The imperative attitude, 

the forceful gaze and the ges- 

ture of the hand on the beard evokes 

models in Italian statuary, particularly 

Michelangelo’s Moses, evidencing the 

unmistakeable origin of this new dignified 

and heroic artistic language, intended 

to represent and make widely 

known the new principles and dogmas 

dictated by the Council of Trent. 

(Room 11) 

ENGLISH

Saint Peter Nolasco redeeming captives around 1599 

Pedro de la Cuadra 


In spite of its modest plastic quality, 

this relief is interesting because of its 

high documentary value and its clearly 

intentional propaganda for the religious 

Order it refers to. The scene represents 

a frequent occurrence during 

the 16 th century: Christians taken captive 

by Barbary pirates from N. Africa 

or in battle being ransomed by monks 

of the Order of Mercedarians founded 

in the 13 th century by St Pedro Nolasco 

specifically for this mission. 

This work of Pedro de la Cuadra is 

interesting within the context of Valladolid 

at the time as it reflects the 

process of evolution of some of the 

contemporary sculptors from the colder 

Romanist language to the baroque 

naturalism of Gregorio Fernández. This 

relief was part of the altarpiece of the 

Mercedarians chapel of the Convento 

de la Merced Calzada in Valladolid and 

belongs to the first of these periods. 

It is a good example of how this language 

became distorted into inelegant 

forms and solutions of lesser quality 

which only recovered with the expressive 

innovations introduced by Fernández. 

The figures of Pedro de la Cuadra 

are resolved with vigorous faces (with 

straight nose or bulging eyes) but at 

the same time they are repetitive and 

depersonalized. The rounded bodies 

and flowing robes, characteristic of 

Romanism, now show a heavy formalism 

which was not the case in earlier 

examples. (Room 12) 

The Annunciation of Mary 1596-1597 

Gregorio Martínez 

Oil on panel 

Considered a masterpiece of Gregorio 

Martínez, this was the central panel of 

the altarpiece commissioned by the 

banker Fabio Nelli for his funerary chapel 

in the church of San Agustín. It was originally 

completed with a predella with 

four paintings related to the cycle of the 

childhood of Jesus and a crowning piece 

where the Trinity was represented. After 

the Desamortización, when the property 

of the religious houses was confiscated, 

only the central panel reached the 

Museum. 

The composition abandons the domestic 

intimacy of the Flemish Annunciations 

or the Quattrocento scenes 

from Florence and the Virgin’s cell is invaded 

by the celestial world, with beams 

of brightness, diaphanous light and shade 

and a host of angels. The Holy Spirit, 

the spatial, luminous and symbolic centre 

of the scene, separates and links the 

earthly and the supernatural worlds. The 

example of the late Raphael is a decisive 

influence here, as he led the way to the 

continuity between classicism and the 

new spirituality, when he marked out 

the change of direction from the humanist 

neo-Platonism (which harmonised 

interior meditation and worldliness) 

towards a violent irruption of the supernatural 

into human life: the Eternal 

hovers over earthly life in a new climate 

of visions and ecstasies. The delicate 

chromatic range, the value of chiaroscuro 

and the preference for loose folds are 

the outstanding traits in the painting by 

this artist. (Room 13) 



ENGLISH

VAL DEL OMAR, 20 th CENTURY MYSTIC 

Significance of Val del Omar 

in the history of the Cinema 

and Art 

José Val del Omar (Granada, 1904 – Madrid, 

1982) represents the link between 

the historic avant-garde (led mainly by 

the cinema productions of Luis Buñuel 

and Salvador Dalí in the 1930s) and 

the modern experimental cinema of 

the 1970s and 80s, including the ‘expanded 

cinema’ and synaesthetic and 

multi-sensorial experiences in multiple 

formats. Val del Omar was also one of 

the pioneer technologists in Europe in 

audiovisual projects and patents: from 

the variable angle lens (now zoom) in 

1928, to diaphonic sound patented in 

1944, the apanoramic image overflow 

and the tactile-vision of the 50s and 

60s, to multimedia experiments with 

video, laser and other techniques in the 

70s and 80s. 

When he was young he took part in 

the Misiones Pedagógicas of the Republic, 

where he took thousands of photos 

and made dozens of documentary films, 

most of them lost in the Civil War. Five 

of these have survived: Estampas 1932, 

mounted by Val del Omar to show the 

didactic work of the Missions; three, 

restored and grouped together as Fiestas 

cristianas/Fiestas profanas (1934-35) 

and Vibración de Granada (1935) which 

is a forerunner of his masterpiece Aguaespejo 

granadino (1953-55). Another 

crucial work, Fuego en Castilla (1958- 

60) won an award at the 1961 Cannes 

Film Festival for its tactile lighting. Acariño 

galaico was begun the same year 

but was not completed until 1995, making 

up the three parts of the Tríptico 

elemental de España. 

The Republican period of the young 

Val del Omar has been analysed in detail 

and compared with other great artists 

of the time by Jordana Mendelson, 

Professor of History of Art at New York 

University in her book Documenting 

Spain: Artists, Exhibition Culture and the 

Modern Nation, 1929-1939. (2005) 

In his last years, in his PictoLumínicaAudioTáctil 

laboratory(PLAT) —which 

still exists— Val del Omar developed 

many techniques (Óptica Biónica Ciclo 

Táctil, Palpicolor, Cromatacto, Bi-Standard, 

Intermediate 16-35, etc.) and worked 

on various projects including several 

unfinished experiments: El color de 

mi Granada, Variaciones sobre una granada, 

Festivales de España, Festival de las 

entrañas, etc. as well as photomontage, 

series of double slides, techno-poetic 

texts and multimedia experiments. 

ENGLISH 

Fuego en Castilla, 

centre of the Tríptico elemental 

de España 

Val del Omar wanted his Triptych to be 

projected in the opposite order to how 

it had been made. But its ‘elements’ go 

beyond those of the Greeks or those of 

Raimon Llull. They are more those of 

Taoism and subatomic physics: from the 

muddy confines of Galicia, to the unending 

fire of Castilla and the infinite flight 

of the water in Granada, Val del Omar 

submerges us in a grandiose symphony 

where the world order is shattered, bombarded 

as if in a particle reactor by the 

energy and depth of his vision. As if in a 

subatomic cosmos, all is rhythm, different 

levels, incessant change. The elements 

of this universe are not so much 

dynamic as chaotic, transitory stages in 

the unceasing flow of transfiguration. In 

his poems Tientos de erótica celeste, the 

artist describes it as: 

Eléctrico éxtasis: 

movimiento continuo en alta frecuencia 

Temblor vertical 

que se sumerge en la clarividencia 

Ardor, temblor de viva luz

(Electric ecstasy/high frequency 

perpetual motion /Vertical tremor/ 

submerged in clairvoyance/Passion, 

trembling of live light) 

The first ‘elemental’ of the Triptych, 

Acariño galaico (De barro), was begun in 

1961 but was not completed until 1995, 

following his scripts. This is its author“s 

darkest work, a journey to the harsh 

beginnings of the West: the masses of 

clay which the sculptor attempts to model, 

the creatures of the mud (witches, 

frogs, eels), the all-seeing eye of God, 

the celebrants who blacken everything, 

the terrible shots fired in the mired coup 

d“etat: War in Heaven and on Earth. Val 

de Omar himself describes his intentions: 

‘We come from water —made of 

clay- the fire of life— dries us; we pass 

through passion —which saps us— of 

laughter and of tears; and in the end we 

are left —motionless— imprisoned’. 

The second ‘elemental’, Fuego en 

Castilla (Táctil Visión del páramo del 

espanto), is the central and most complex 

movement of Val del Omar’s great 

symphony: mystic or (as he said himself) 

meca-mystic thanks to technology, 

transcending the flamenco rhythms of 

the percussion of Vicente Escudero on 

the woods in the Museum in Valladolid, 

it brings them to life and makes them 

dance and catch fire before the very eyes 

of the astonished spectators. 

An authentic introduction of Val de 

Omar describes these otherworldly visions 

like this: ‘Castilla is presented without 

colour or melody, without tones 

or words. In the jondo mono-rhythm of a 

blind tremor of nails, faced with a world 

which is ready and about to submerge 

itself in the great spectacle of the invasion 

of the Valley of Differences by the 

Fire which will integrate us once again 

into Unity’. 

But the end is hopeful in the author’s 

own words: ‘Death is only a word which 

is left behind when there is love. He who 

loves, burns and he who burns flies at 

the speed of light. Because loving is… 

being what is loved’. In the context of 

this masterpiece Roman Gubern commented 

that: ‘The lighting experiments 

of Val del Omar inspired similar uses in 

the international experimental cinema 

of the decade (e. g. Werner Nekes and 

Stan Brakhage) and led their inventor 

logically to the Palpicolor (1961-63) and 

Cromatacto (1967) projects’. 

Finally, Aguaespejo granadino (La 

gran siguiriya) is the first ‘elemental’ 

which Val del Omar completed and last 

to be projected. This work, with more 

than 500 sounds processed with diaphonic 

technology, was more than a 

quarter of a century ahead of the modern 

concept of sound design. The images 

are also amazing: in the 1956 Berlin 

Festival, Val del Omar was considered as 

the Schönberg of the camera, the discoverer 

of atonal film language. Along 

with the greatest homage ever paid to 

cante jondo in the cinema, Val del Omar 

describes his work with a humble lyricism: 

‘One day I heard Federico and 

this is what he was asking for: Lord, give 

me ears to understand the waters. And 

now I am the one who is asking you to 

lend me your ears to hear them. For as 

the path I have taken is not the real one 

of direct emotions, you have to go and 

look for this small trail of images and 

cries which runs quickly, hidden at times 

among the grass.’ 

Text: Gonzalo Sáenz de Buruaga 

www.valdelomar.com 


in the stand in this room. 

ENGLISH

ROOM 14. BAROQUE AND COUNTER- REFORMATION ART 

Reliquary retables of San Diego 1604-1606 

Vicenzo and Bartholomew Carducci; Juan de Muniátegui (joiner) 

Gilt, polychrome wood and oil on canvas 

While the Court was in Valladolid, between 

1601 and 1606, the Duke of Lerma, 

following the royal example, acted 

as a great patron of the arts, commissioning 

new religious houses and their 

embellishment. For the convent of San 

Diego he commissioned these two reliquary 

altarpieces, now restored to their 

original arrangement. Various artists 

took part in their design and execution: 

the royal architect Francisco de Mora, 

Juan de Muniátegui who assembled 

them and Vicente and Bartolomé Carducho, 

the artists responsible for the 

paintings. 

These reliquaries were made to imitate 

the reliquary aumbries in the Monastery 

of El Escorial, and follow a monumental 

classicist design: a predella of 

painted board, a main panel with two 

Corinthian pilasters and a pediment. 

They can be closed with two large wing 

panels, with paintings of the Annunciation 

and the Stigmata of St Francis of 

Assisi. These are unusual in that they 

are double-sided, with the same scene 

repeated on each side of the leaves. 

The interior contains reliquaries in 

the shape of busts and arms, highlighting 

the link between statue and relic. The 

image was the catalyst of the power of 

the relics, and the veneration of these 

was the essential aim. They were then 

placed in a scenario which captured the 

attention of the believers. (Room 14) 

The Baptism of Christ 1624-1628 

Gregorio Fernández 


Considered by many art historians as 

one of the masterpieces of Gregorio Fernández, 

this scene occupied the central 

panel of the altarpiece for the Chapel of 

St John the Baptist in the convent of the 

Discalced Carmelites. 

Following the biblical story, the artist 

reconstructs the Baptism of Christ with 

two superimposed scenes: the Purification 

of Christ in the waters of the Jordan 

and the theophany or visible manifestation 

of God in this act. The purification 

of baptism takes on more importance 

and reflects the doctrinal novelties of 

the Counter-Reformation Church: Christ, 

who had been represented up to then 

in the centre of the composition, standing 

and with a loin cloth, is shown here 

kneeling humbly in front of St John the 

Baptist, his arms crossed on his breast 

as a sign of selflessness and covering his 

nakedness with a flowing robe. 

The two main figures are a marvel 

of naturalism in their anatomical repre- 

sentation with detailed carvings of veins, 

tendons and muscles (more delicate in 

the figure of Christ, more sinewy in the 

figure of the Precursor). The detailed 

treatment of the hair and of the ample, 

heavy cloth falling in sharp stiff folds, 

have the clear marks of this artist’s mature 

style. (Room 14) 

ENGLISH

The Pietà 1616 



This forms part of a paso or processional 

group commissioned from the 

sculptor by the Cofradía de Nuestra 

Señora de las Angustias, which also included 

two other figures —Mary Magdalene 

and St John— now kept in the 

church of this Cofradía or Brotherhood 

and a bare cross. Dated 1616, a sober 

polychromy was applied in 1617, in 

keeping with the scene narrated. 

The style of Gregorio Fernández is 

clearly shown in this work: naturalism, 

sharp broken folds, expressive faces 

and hands, the plastic quality of the 

anatomy. The central group of the Pietá 

shows the Virgin Mary looking up 

to heaven with a gesture of sorrowing 

reproach, while keeping a firm hold, 

with a most expressive hand, on the 

body of Jesus, which seems to be slipping 

off her lap. The composition here 

adopts the formula set by Correggio 

since 1522 and which had become 

widespread throughout Europe in the 

engravings of Carracci, showing Jesus 

now no longer on his mother’s knees, 

but lying on the ground with his head 

resting on her lap, in a highly dramatic 

baroque diagonal asymmetry. The two 

thieves are magnificent anatomical 

studies; they can be seen as the considered 

moral contrast of good and evil 

embodied in Dimas and Gestas and 

which respond to the need for a clear 

narrative required in the processional 

group. (Room 14) 

Saint Theresa of Jesus 1625 



The images of the Saint multiplied after 

her beatification in 1614, when Gregorio 

Fernández made the statue for the 

convent of the Discalced Carmelites in 

Valladolid. This image has been used as 

a model with slight variations by Fernández 

himself and other artists ever 

since: Saint Teresa, the writer with quill 

and book, receiving divine inspiration. It 

seems likely that the figure in the Museum 

was commissioned near the time 

of her canonization (1622) but its existence 

is only known of with any certainty 

in 1625, when the Dominicans of San 

Pablo in Valladolid contracted Bartolomé 

de Cárdenas to polychrome some 

works by Fernández and specified that 

some details should be as rich and beautifully 

executed as those of the Saint Teresa 

in the Carmelite convent. 

And so the dark brown Carmelite habit 

is enlivened with a white cloak with 

a wide border imitating precious stones 

set in gold. In her left hand the Saint 

is holding an open book with splendi- 



dly imitated inscriptions, including the 

name of her confessor, Pedro de Alcántara. 

The strange arrangement of the 

cloak on the left side, fixed to the habit 

to allow greater liberty of movement (in 

line with the fashion of the time which 

the artist also shows in other works) 

helps to emphasize her ecstatic surprise 

(leaving go of cloak and book), breaking 

the symmetry and giving the work greater 

movement. (Room 14) 

ENGLISH

ROOMS 15 - 19. THE BAROQUE. THE ART OF PERSUASION 

Saint John the Evangelist around 1638 

Juan Martínez Montañés 


At the beginning of the 17 th century, 

the representations of the two saints 

John the Baptist and John the Evangelist 

took on a special prominence in the 

convents and monasteries in Seville as 

contrasting examples of the active life 

of the preacher —the Baptist— and the 

contemplative life of prayer — the Evangelist. 

The sculptor Martínez Montañés 

created some of the most successful 

series of both these Saints. 

This sculpture offers a vision of the 

mature St John the Evangelist, seated 

and writing —with his usual eagle, the 

symbol of his lofty texts. The moment 

of divine inspiration is reflected in his 

body paralyzed by emotion and his face 

looking yearningly up to heaven. 

The elegant, balanced attitude of 

the figure with its rich polychromy and 

the gold of the estofado (which may be 

by Francisco Pacheco), recalls the classicist 

survival in the baroque in Andalucia. 

The superb technique of Martínez 

Montañes, who was called ‘the god of 

wood’ by his contemporaries, can be 

clearly seen in this late work, carved 

when he was around 70 years old, with 

its outstanding treatment of the folds 

of the robes and the detail of the locks 

of the hair and beard. (Room 16) 

Saint Peter of Alcántara around 1663 

Pedro de Mena 


The sculptor Pedro de Mena from Granada, 

just like Gregorio Fernández, was 

also an important creator of iconographic 

types whose success resulted in 

the continued demand by his clients 

for repeats of the model. A magnificent 

example of this is the iconography of the 

Spanish Franciscan saint, Pedro de Alcántara, 

canonized in 1669, who was the 

driving force behind the strictest branch 

of the Franciscans in Spain, known as 

‘descalzos’ or ‘alcantarinos’. His physical 

appearance —tall, bald and gaunt— vividly 

described by St Teresa of Avila as 

‘so extremely thin that he seemed to be 

made of roots of trees ‘- was codified in 

the engravings of him made just before 

his beatification in 1622. 

The images of the saint attributed to 

Pedro de Mena and his workshop follow 

this model: the saint is shown standing 

as he writes (here the book and quill 

have not survived) with his writing suspended 

momentarily as he attends to 

the dictates of the Holy Spirit, raising his 

eyes to heaven and waiting anxiously for 

divine inspiration. His body, gaunt and 

worn from penitence and deprivation, is 

clothed in a rough patched habit, sometimes 

with the short cloak of the Discalced 

Franciscans. 

This iconography of the saint as the 

‘mystic Doctor’ may have been inspired 

by similar representations of Saint Teresa. 

(Room 16) 

ENGLISH

Head of Saint Paul 1707 

Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron 

Polychrome wood, horn and glass 

Starting from what had already been 

accomplished by the 17 th century artists 

and still with a faint echo of other 

models of the profane terribilità, such 

as the Gorgon’s head (with the frontal 

position, the tortured expression 

and the halo of hair), Villabrille turns 

this theme of the severed head into 

a masterpiece, clearly in line with the 

Counter-Reformation obsession with 

suffering and death. Dramatically 

placed against a rocky background simulating 

trickling water —illustrating 

the legend of the three streams which 

sprang up where the head of the saint 

touched the ground when he was decapitated— 

the powerful modelling of 

this sculpture contributes to its grandiose 

character without the dramatic 

effect becoming too artificial. 

This is naturalism taken to extremes, 

magnificently capturing the moment 

of the beheading: the detail of 

the physical features, the application 

of the glass eyes and ivory teeth, the 

open mouth and eyes, the movement 

of the wrinkles on the forehead. As the 

head was made in two sections, the 

whole mouth cavity is reproduced, 

connected to the neck. This sculpture 

is a recreation of the characteristic 

dramatization of the Spanish baroque, 

which was also a bridge between the 

17 th and 18 th centuries. (Room 17) 

Saint John the Baptist 1634 

Alonso Cano 


In the 17 th century the devotion to the 

two saints John the Evangelist and John 

the Baptist encouraged the renovation 

of their iconography and led to the 

production of many figures for religious 

houses in Andalucia. This sculpture by 

Alonso Cano was part of the renewal, 

and was intended for the central section 

of an altarpiece in the church of 

San Juan de la Palma in Seville. 

Seated on a rock, absorbed in his 

thoughts, the saint displays an adolescent 

body of classical beauty. His 

right hand is stretched out in a rhetorical 

gesture as if in silent argument 

and he is gazing sadly at the lamb he is 

stroking, the symbol of the sacrifice of 

the Passion. The oval face and slanting 

eyes, the limp hair and melancholy expression 

which seems to reflect a profound 

inner world, are all traits repeated 

in many of this sculptor’s works and 

define an archetype which was often 

copied at the time. 



The finely modelled anatomy, the 

soft animal skin which covers part of 

the body, the equilibrium of the posture, 

all show a concern which is artistic 

rather than purely religious. A 

good reflection of the naturalism is 

the polychromy of the encarnado with 

the different flesh tones of the cheeks, 

the well-defined bones, the incipient 

beard, the faint blue of the veins or the 

appearance of fine hairs painted on the 

temples. (Room 18) 

ENGLISH

ROOM 20. THE 18 th CENTURY: A NEW SENSIBILITY 

Saint Anthony the Abbot second half of the 18 th century 

Benito Silveira 


This statue is an unusual type of clothed 

image, in which the sculptor played a 

more important role, because as well 

as carving the parts that can be seen, 

he also modelled the body in its undressed 

state. This is a masculine figure 

dressed in underclothes, with simplified 

anatomy but careful details, which justifies 

displaying it here in its basic state 

of undress. Only the articulation of the 

shoulders and elbows and the elements 

which allow the arms to be fixed in different 

postures show that it is a mannequin. 

The wood is hollowed out at the 

back to make it lighter and the holes in 

the base to fix it on to a portable platform 

show that it was intended to be 

carried in procession. 

The old man with a long beard, barefoot, 

with the rule book in the left hand 

and the right hand positioned to hold a 

crook, are the symbols of the iconography 

of St Anthony the Great who was 

especially popular in his role as herdsman 

of his flock. Most probably his other 

characteristic symbols, the bell and the 

pig, would also have formed part of the 

accoutrements of the figure when it was 

fully dressed. 

Attributed to Benito Silveira, this figure 

shows all the traits of this sculptor, 

one of the most important in the baroque 

school in Galicia. (Room 20) 

Saint Anne and Saint Joachim 1700-1725 

Pablo González Velázquez 


Not included in the canonical Gospels, 

it is in the apocryphal texts that 

the history is told of the childhood of 

the Virgin Mary and of her parents, St 

Anne and St Joachim with a recurring 

theme of the Old Testament: the elderly 

spouses who become parents 

by divine grace after many childless 

years. The authenticity of the story 

was questioned by the Council of Trent 

in its doctrinal review, and the cult 

of these saints was suppressed for a 

time. However the weight of tradition 

and deep-rooted devotion continued 

to represent them within the cycle of 

the childhood of the Virgin Mary. In 

the 18 th century there are many paired 

statues of St Joachim and St Anne 

normally flanking scenes with Mary in 

altarpieces and chapels. 

The sculptures displayed here are 

elegant figures reminiscent of Juan de 

Juni with their twisted movements and 

the importance of their robes, which 

wrap them in many curved and conca- 

ve folds, transmitting dynamism and 

generating luminosity. The faces are 

delicately featured but still expressive. 

The composition of the sculptures and 

that they are completely finished at 

the back suggests that they were originally 

free-standing within the architectonic 

framework, as was often the 

case in altarpieces in the first half of 

the 18 th century. (Room 20) 

ENGLISH

Saint Mary of Egipt second third of the 18 th century 

Luís Salvador Carmona 


This statue repeats the type created in 

the 17 th century to represent the repentant 

Mary Magdalene, applied here to 

another courtesan who repented and 

withdrew to a life of solitary expiation 

in the wilderness; the similarity between 

both the iconographies allows 

minimum changes: the essential presence 

of the miraculous loaves, the 

characteristic symbol of Mary of Egypt, 

and a skull instead of the crucifix. 

Carmona took as his model here the 

sculpture of Mary Magdalene by Pedro 

de Mena, but abandoned the essential 

simplification of the Andalucian artist 

to dwell on anecdotal details: the gown 

is darned at the knee and the lower hem 

is frayed; it has lost its rigidity and moves 

with the body underneath, multiplying 

planes and profiles, marking discreet 

diagonals. The carefully disordered 

locks of the anchorite’s hip-length hair 

seem tousled by the wind. Our attention 

is also drawn to the realistic bread. 

The sculptor’s hand can be clearly seen 

in the tender moulding of the face, the 

rounded cheeks with the clearly defined 

corners of the mouth and lips and in the 

soft dimpled hands. 

The deeply sorrowing tension which 

moves the penitent by Pedro de Mena, 

distancing her from her surroundings, is 

replaced here by a tranquil meditation, 

with no traces of suffering in this figure 

of youthful beauty which moves elegantly 

in space. It shows the talent Carmona 

had for interpreting traditional 

baroque models with rococo sensitivity 

and courtly refinement. (Room 20) 

The archangel Saint Michael second half of the 18 th century 

Felipe de Espinabete 


This St Michael defeating the devil is both 

flamboyant and charming, in his personification 

of the triumph of good over 

evil with the preciosity corresponding to 

the second half of the 18 th century. The 

great devotion to this saint in medieval 

times (and therefore his presence in art) 

had declined until the time of the Counter-Reformation 

when it gathered a new 

impetus to testify to the triumph of the 

Catholic Church over Protestantism. 

The composition is very dynamic; 

St Michael appears almost in flight, resting 

on only one foot and with his wings 

outstretched, the head turned in counterposition 

to the movement of the torso 

and arms (which would originally have 

held a sword and a shield) and with his 

swirling garments flaring out in the wind. 

Underneath the half human-half dragon 

figure of the devil, apparently writhing 

with his last gasp, there is a pedestal with 

a scene from hell, full of strange, grotesque 

figures among the flames which 

have already reached Lucifer himself, 

spilling over the cornice which separates 



the two elements —as often happened 

with decorative elements of altarpieces. 

This work is fully rococo with a whiff of 

the French taste which can be seen in the 

effeminate face of the archangel and in 

the sensuality exuded by the whole figure. 

The group is notably colourist, especially 

in the rich Roman centurion costume 

of the archangel with its spectacular, 

well distributed polychromy. (Room 20) 

ENGLISH

THE CHAPEL 

Great retable from the Monastery of La Mejorada in Olmedo 1523-1526 

Alonso Berruguete and Vasco de la Zarza 


Dª Francisca de Zúñiga, a noble lady 

of Castile, commissioned the sculptors 

Vasco de la Zarza and Alonso Berruguete 

to produce this altarpiece in 1523. 

The former was already famous for his 

elegant mastery of the Italian decorative 

repertoire, but he died a year after the 

contract was signed. Berruguete, who 

at the time was a young artist recently 

returned form Italy, took on most of the 

work. The result of their collaboration is 

this altarpiece with a fully Renaissance 

structure with three sections on a base 

and predella, filled with profane decorative 

elements: griffons, coats of arms, 

medallions, human figures… 

Eight panels in relief narrate the life of 

Christ and the Virgin Mary but they are 

not arranged in any clear order. (Their 

original sequence may have been altered 

at some point when they were moved). 

The whole is crowned with an expressive 

Calvary scene with free-standing figures. 

The agitated treatment of line and 

volume, constant throughout the work 

of Berruguete, gives rise in this early 

work to elegant, stylized figures, such 

as the Virgin of the Annunciation, sharing 

the space with more expressive figures 

like the Archangel Gabriel or the 

sorrowing onlookers at the Crucifixion. 

Tomb of Bishop Diego de Avellaneda second third of the 16 th century 

Felipe Vigarny 

Alabaster, jasper and limestone 

Felipe Vigarny, originally from Burgundy, 

who settled in Burgos around 1498, 

was one of the most famous and longlived 

artists of his time and a true model 

of adaptation to the successive artistic 

trends in Castile in the first third of the 

16 th century. 

In 1536, nearing the end of his life, 

he signed a contract with Diego de Avellaneda, 

the Bishop of Tuy, to produce 

two matching funeral monuments, 

one for the bishop himself which can 

be seen here and the other in memory 

of his father, both originally installed 

in the Monasterio de San Juan y Santa 

Catalina de la Espeja (Soria). The aging 

artist, overwhelmed with commissions, 

had to share this task with other lesser 

sculptors. 

The tomb with its harmonic proportions 

is of the highest formal quality and 

follows a model already used previously 

by Vigarny with a central niche housing 

the alabaster figures of the kneeling donor, 

an acolyte and the patron saints of 

the Monasterio de la Espeja, St Catherine 

and St John the Baptist. On each side 

of the central panel, two balusters support 

a classical entablature and a medallion 

garlanded with fruit and flowers 

which contains an elegant group of the 

Virgin and Child. The whole monument 

is raised up on a double base decorated 

with allegorical figures and symbols. 

ENGLISH

First Duke and Duchess of Lerma 1601-1608 

Pompeo Leoni and Juan de Arfe 

Fire-gilded bronze 

The proud image of the Duke of Lerma, 

Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas and of 

his wife Catalina de la Cerda, powerfully 

expressed in bronze, are a demonstration 

of the desire for power of this important 

figure in Spanish political life, 

whose presence in Valladolid left so 

many traces of his artistic patronage. 

With his personal fortune and his control 

over court politics it is not surprising 

that this aristocrat should choose 

to model his own funerary monument 

on the sculptures of the royal pantheon 

in San Lorenzo del Escorial, commissioning 

it from the same excellent artist in 

bronze, Pompeo Leoni from Milan. 

To make the moulds, Leoni came 

to Valladolid in 1601 when the court 

of Felipe III was established there. Juan 

de Arfe, the great goldsmith and art 

theorist, agreed to cast the bronze statues 

and gild the pieces with powdered 

gold, fired with the gilt bronze technique. 

The subjects are shown in solemn 

prayer, with dignified robes and an ostentatious 

decoration of jewels and 

precious stones. The Duke was originally 

shown wearing the cross of the Order 

of Santiago, which is now missing. 

The solemnity of the portrayal, conceived 

within a sumptuous sacred context, 

forms part of a desire to conquer death 

with a posthumous and lasting fame. 

Choir stalls from the Convento de San Francisco 1735 

Pedro de Sierra 

Natural wood 

The choir stalls of the former Franciscan 

house in Valladolid were made around 

1735 by the brothers Jacinto and Pedro 

de Sierra and they are considered as the 

last great carvings of this type to emerge 

from the workshops of Valladolid. 

Carved in walnut, the panels of the 

stalls on the lower level and their medallions 

represent the Franciscan friars in a 

recreation of the history of the Order. The 

upper row presents, as is usual, larger panels 

carved with the figures of the evangelists, 

apostles and saints. The whole is 

crowned with six large tondos showing 

the virtues (Justice, Temperance, Faith, 

Hope and Charity) and St Michael the 

Archangel defeating the devil. The whole 

is symbolic of a mystical ascending order, 

of the life raised up to God. 

In plastic terms the work is of the highest 

technical quality. The elegance, expressiveness 

and dynamism of the carving 

and relief are the dominant features, 

showing the late influence of the style of 

Bernini. The decorative carvings which 

cover the structure are outstanding in 

their variety, beauty and attention to detail, 

combining plant motifs with figured 

scenes, emblems and symbols. 


in the stand in the Chapel. 

ENGLISH

PROCESSIONAL SCENES 

Processional group of The Raising of the Cross 1604 

Francisco de Rincón 


The Processional Scenes are one of the 

most characteristic manifestations of 

Spanish baroque plastic art. These large 

sculpture groups with a variable number 

of free-standing figures represent episodes 

from the Passion of Christ and were 

created to take part in processions. They 

are carried on large moveable platforms 

through the streets which then become 

the scenario of the annual recreation of 

the drama, with the emotional involvement 

of the faithful. 

In the early decades of the 17 th century 

Francisco de Rincón and Gregorio 

Fernández succeeded in developing this 

sculptural typology to its ultimate consequences, 

designing and carving the most 

impressive pasos still conserved in Valladolid, 

three of which can be seen here. 

The narrative clarity and the realism of 

the representation were the stylistic resources 

which allowed the two artists to 

create simple and understandable works, 

following the dictates of the Church, to 

instruct and arouse the emotion, piety 

and fervour of ordinary people. 

The Raising of the Cross by Francisco 

de Rincón is the first paso from Castile 

made of polychrome wood. Its daring 

composition has eight figures: the live 

Christ who is being raised on the cross 

(this figure is now kept in the Iglesia de 

San Quirce), the two thieves, waiting 

their turn to be crucified and five sayones 

(the name given to the men who 

carried out the sentence of condemned 

prisoners). 

A studied distribution and the original 

design of each of the characters who 

make up the scene are the most outstanding 

characteristics of this group. 

The figures who are raising the cross, 

known in the old document records as 

“reventados” because of their risky postures 

are the result of a complicated 

mathematical study, with the centres 

of gravity perfectly calculated to ensu- 

re stability. The rough faces, grotesque 

positions and loud clothes which would 

characterize the sayones in the processions 

can already be seen in this group. 

The difference between the Good and 

the Bad Thief is clearly shown by how 

one is facing and the other turned away 

from the cross and in the posture of the 

figure of Dimas, which is more serene 

and that of Gestas, more forced and 

twisted. The anatomical treatment of 

both figures is very accurate. 

ENGLISH

Processional group of The Crucifixion (I thirst) 1612-1616 



The earliest processional group of Gregorio 

Fernández astonished the faithful 

of the time because of the enormous 

sculptures and the daring and unstable 

pyramidal arrangement. 

The scene shows the moment after 

the raising of the cross with Christ who 

is still alive and his body is still supple 

as shown by the open, tensed hands. 

The five soldiers who are with him 

carry out the different actions mentioned 

in the Gospels. In the foreground 

two grim characters cast lots for the 

garments of Jesus; behind them another 

two offer him the sponge soaked 

in vinegar to drink. The raised arms of 

these figures holding the hyssop stalk 

with the sponge and the lance make 

a frame which leads the spectator visually 

towards the crucified Christ. The 

whole composition is completed with 

the fifth man who is up on a ladder 

nailing the notice to the cross with 

INRI written on it (Iesus Nazarenus Rex 

Iudaeorum). 

In spite of the characterization of 

the executioners, with gross faces and 

rough clothes, the artistic quality of 

the whole scene is evident in the dy- 

namic and at the same time balanced 

attitudes and the mastery of the anatomies 

and expressions. 

Processional group of The Road to Calvary 1614-1615 



The episode narrated in this paso or processional 

scene represents Christ carrying 

his cross with the help of Simon of Cyrene 

on the way to Calvary when Veronica, 

a pious woman, wipes the face of Jesus 

with her veil to dry the blood and sweat 

and the impression of his face is miraculously 

left on the cloth. The whole scene 

is an eloquent example of the great 

artistic quality the maestro reached in 

his development of this typology, which 

can be appreciated both in the theatrical 

composition of the group and in the 

individual treatment of each figure. They 

are all walking slowly towards Golgotha, 

but each one seems to transmit through 

movements, gestures and expressions 

their different reactions to the same 

event: the tenderness and impotence of 

Veronica, the resignation and nobility of 

Simon of Cyrene, the bravado and cruelty 

of the soldier, the violence and brutality 

of the executioner. This group has 

undergone some changes in its original 

composition: the kneeling Christ, with 

head and hands which may be the work 

of Pedro de la Cuadra, replaced the missing 

original figure by Gregorio Fernández. 

The whereabouts of a third soldier 

is not known either, although according 

to older descriptions he was depicted 

goading Jesus with a lance. 



ENGLISH

NEAPOLITAN CHRISTMAS CRIB 

Nativity scene end of the 18 th century 

Anonymous Neapolitan 

Terracotta, wood, cloth, tow and other materials 

Although the first historical mention 

of the plastic representation of the nativity 

scene at Bethlehem goes back 

to the 13 th century, this phenomenon, 

common to the whole Christian world, 

reached its moment of greatest splendour 

in the 18 th century in the specific 

context of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies 

where it overflowed the context of 

the purely religious to become part of 

the Court and the houses of the nobility 

and the bourgeois, taking on its own 

original personality. 

The Neapolitan Crib is different from 

other similar manifestations because 

of its spectacularly rich scenography 

achieved thanks to the different artists 

and craftsmen, including architects, 

sculptors, painters, silversmiths, potters 

and tailors who with their imagination 

and craftsmanship succeeded in reproducing 

the popular everyday scenes 

from the city of Naples as the basis to 

accompany the religious events of the 

birth of Jesus. 

The market, the inn, dancing, travelling 

sales folk, beggars, the tavern, the 

different trades, shepherds, the royal 

court and everything else that could be 

included from daily life or pure fantasy 

has a place in the Neapolitan cribs and 

developed alongside the religious nativity 

event. 

The nativity itself was included as one 

of the scenes in the hustle and bustle 

of the town, although the main figures, 

surrounded by a spectacular shower of 

angels, are the figures which most attract 

the attention of the viewer. 

The Neapolitan Crib in this Museum 

is made up of 620 items which allow 

the groupings mentioned above to be 

recreated in great detail. The pieces 

were brought together over many years 

by the collectors Carmelo and Emilio 

García de Castro and were acquired by 

the State in 1996. 

The 184 human figures include a 

whole variety of indispensable characters 

and others which are usually found: 

the Holy Family, the choir of angels, 

the Three Kings and their oriental train, 

shepherds with their sheepskins, elegant 

townspeople, craftsmen, country 

folk, gypsies… 

The figures are made with different 

techniques using a combination of materials: 

the body and top of the limbs 

are made of a flexible wire framework 

covered with tow which allows the postures 

to be altered and then arms and 

legs of carved wood are added. However 

it is the terracotta head that gives 

the figure its character and needs more 

delicate craftsmanship, usually entrusted 

to important sculptors. They also 

modelled complete figures known as 

‘academias’, and in this Crib the figure 

ENGLISH

of the beggar is a magnificent example 

of one of these. 

The quest for true-to-life accuracy 

conditions the meticulous detail of the 

polychromy of these pieces, the addition 

of glass eyes and above all the care 

taken in the design and making of the 

clothes and accessories which define 

the role of each figure within the whole, 

offering a very rich sample of popular 

and court dress of the time, adorned 

with passementerie, buttons, buckles, 

lace and even miniature jewels worn by 

the women. 

Along with the different characters 

represented, there are domestic and 

more exotic animals (oxen, cows, goats, 

mules, horses, elephants, greyhounds, 

camels) which are essential in the miniature 

world of the Crib. Making them 

also involved a careful process based on 

a direct copy from life, often by specialized 

artists. 

The mounting of the whole scene 

required a large number of accessories: 

musical instruments, arms, chests and 

trays, fruit and vegetables, fish and animal 

offal, dishes and glassware… all 

made of clay, wax, silver, ebony, ivory, 

bone and glass. The extremely high level 

of detail of these objects makes them 

miniature works of art, essential to underline 

the personality of the different 

areas and characters and achieve the 

overall richness and wealth of detail. 

Like most other Neapolitan Cribs 

which have survived, this one in the 

Museum no longer has its original contemporary 

setting. It is displayed here 

using the setting designed by its former 

owners: an urban scene with popular 

architecture from the south of Italy, 

which also includes the rural life on the 

outskirts of the town and the ruined 

grandeur of the classical buildings like 

the one housing the Nativity scene itself, 

inspired by a drawing by the painter 

Luca Giordano. 



ENGLISH

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