The same learned authority thinks that the admirable tomb of the Marquis Vasquez de Arco, which is in an annexe of the Sigüenza Cathedral, may, in spite of certain difficulties about dates, be the work of Damian Forment. For there seems no other artist working at this time who could have executed it. Forment left a considerable fortune, which would point to there having been many anonymous works of his; his four altar-screens not being sufficient to account for the amassing of this wealth. The Sigüenza tomb is one of the earliest monuments to show the decisive influences of the Renaissance. The figure is represented reclining, the attitude is new and free, the expression of the face is charming, and all the details are carried out with great perfection. The only colour that to-day remains is the crimson cross of Santiago. Behind the tomb an inscription on a slab of marble inlaid into the wall gives the history of the young hero, who was killed during one of the many sieges which preceded the conquest of Granada.
There are some very curious and very interesting bas-reliefs in the lower section of the retablo of the Royal Chapel of Granada (Plate 75) belonging to this period, which show markedly the Italian Renaissance forms. They depict the Surrender of the City and the Baptism of the Moors. Unfortunately the author of these works is unknown.
In 1520, the same year in which Forment began the altar-screen of Huesca, a Catalan artist, Bartolomé Ordóñez, went to Geneva to chisel from Carrara marble the tomb of Cardinal Ximénez, which is now in the Cathedral of Alcalá de Henares, but was formerly in the University Chapel of the city. The tomb had been already designed by the Florentine Domenico Alexandro, but on his death in 1520 Ordóñez was chosen to complete it. With him worked two Genoese artists, Thomas Forne and Adam Wibaldo, and Ordóñez assimilated so completely the Italian style that on his return to Spain he became one of the chief channels for introducing the new forms.
This explains how it is that the Spaniard’s chief works have been ascribed to his Florentine master, Domenico Alexandro. These are the funeral monuments of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic sovereigns, in the Royal Chapel of Granada (Plate 76), and that of Don Juan, their only son, which is in the Church of St. Thomas at Avila (Plate 77). This last monument is of great purity and beauty of style. Domenico Alexandro died in 1520, two years before the Granada tombs were executed. A recent discovery noted by M. Marcel Dieulafoy of three names of those who presided at the mounting of the monuments, all of whom belonged to the studio of Ordóñez, gives further proof that we owe these splendid funeral monuments to him. There is confusion about all the works of this great sculptor. It is probable that he was the author of the tombs of Philip the Handsome and Juana la Loca, which are also in Granada’s Royal Chapel; while many anonymous sculptures of this date, as well as others that have been assigned to the early Renaissance artists, may well be his work. But the question of attributions, always difficult, is especially so in the case of an artist who, like Bartolomé Ordóñez, assumes a style typical of his period.
The most famous of the early Renaissance artists was Philip Vigarni, better known by his surname Borgoña. He was of Burgundian origin, but a native of Burgos, and he spent his life in the country of his birth. We hear of him first in the year 1500, gaining a competition to execute the great retablo of the Tras-Sagrario in the Cathedral of Burgos.
The Tras-Sagrario altar-screen is the largest retablo in Spain, probably in the world (Plates 78-80). It is made entirely of larch wood, and is in five storeys, each having four compartments, which are decorated with elaborately carved bas-reliefs of the Passion and scenes from the life of the Virgin. Above is a colossal crucifix. The numerous niches and pinnacles contain a veritable crowd of prophets and saints. The style is flamboyant Gothic, for, like Forment, Philip Borgoña did not use Renaissance forms until later in his career. He had as his collaborators Alfonso Sanchez, and his fellow-competitors Sebastian Almonacid, Peti Juan, Diego Copin of Holland, and seventeen other sculptors of renown. Enrique Egas, master architect of the cathedral, and Pietro Gumiel, architect of the archbishopric, directed and looked after the construction. The polychrome was entrusted to Juan de Borgoña, the Toledan painter, and brother of Philip, and he was assisted by Francesco di Amberos, Fernando del Rincon, and others. With the aid of these numerous collaborators the altar-screen was completed in four years, and was inaugurated in 1505. In spite of the merit of its carvings, its great architectural merits, and the profusion and beauty of its colour and gilding, the general effect of the retablo is disappointing. It is too large. Standing near to it, the eye cannot embrace its multitude of detail, while at a distance the parts become confused and lost. It is a splendid and surprising monument, and it is very Spanish, but it is unsatisfying as a work of art.
The real talent of Philip de Borgoña is seen best in the admirable bas-reliefs in the Tras-Sagrario at the back of the Grand Altar. In the first, Jesus goes out of Jerusalem to Calvary, accompanied by St. Veronica, who dries his face, wet with drops of blood and sweat, and by St. Simon, who helps to carry the Cross; the second depicts the Crucifixion; the third is in two compartments, which show the Descent from the Cross and the Resurrection (Plate 81). Two bas-reliefs on either side are of a later date, belonging to the seventeenth century; they are the work of Alonso de Rios.
It was after the execution of these works at Burgos that Philip de Borgoña underwent his artistic evolution and embraced Italian forms. Whence the influence came we do not know; perhaps it was from Alonso Berruguete, for Philip de Borgoña would seem never to have left Spain.
The great work of his late years was carving the thirty-five stalls on the Epistle side of the choir of Toledo Cathedral, the stalls on the Gospel side being by Alonso Berruguete (Plates 82-98). The carvings of Borgoña are more delicate and more finished, while those of Berruguete show more creative talent and are more Spanish in their sentiment. Of these truly marvellous choir-stalls Théophile Gautier says: “L’art Gothique, sur les confins de la Renaissance, n’a rien produit de plus parfait ni de mieux dessiné.” In his Toledo Pintoresca, Amardor thus begins his description of the stalls: “Portent of Spanish art, in which two great geniuses of our golden century competed, the victory to our own times remains undecided, and astounded the judges who have endeavoured to give their opinion on this matter.” The bas-reliefs represent scenes from the Old and New Testament, and the single statues are of prophets, apostles, and saints. They are carved of walnut wood, separated by jasper and alabaster pillars.
M. Marcel Dieulafoy has pointed out the singular resemblance between the figures in these choir-stalls and those in the altar-screen in the Capilla del Condestable of Burgos Cathedral. It seems probable that we owe this fine work to Philip de Borgoña, or at least that it was produced in his studio. It is adorned with numerous reliefs and statues. The scene of the central panel, with life-size figures, depicts the Presentation in the Temple, and is charming by reason of its naïve realism and the beauty of the heads. This altar-screen gains a further importance from the richness of its polychromes.