Many of the works of Tordesillas have been attributed to his better-known contemporary Juan de Juni, the extravagant follower of Berruguete’s style. The altar-screens in the Church of Santiago and the Church of San Francisco at Valladolid—the first representing the Adoration of the Magi and the other the Entombment of Christ—are all the work of Tordesillas. M. Marcel Dieulafoy’s verdict of this little known carver is that he was “a great artist.”

Francisco Giralte, a sculptor of Palencia, who, like so many of the Spanish artists of this period, studied in Italy, was the principal collaborator with Berruguete in carving the celebrated choir-stalls of Toledo Cathedral. The last of the works which he executed alone is the altar-screen, formerly in the chapel of the Obispo, Palencia Cathedral, but now at Madrid. This screen is described and highly praised by Ponz in his Viage de España. The polychrome was carried out by Juan de Villodo, under the direction of Francisco de Vilalpando, an able architect of Palencia. Giralte carved many other retablos, and was assisted by Juan Manzano and other carvers. The most important of his works are the altar-screen of Cardinal Ximénez, that of the Monastery of Valbuena, the great altar at Espinar, another for the parish church of Pozeido, and finally the retablo of the Corral’s chapel in the Church of the Magdalena, Valladolid, remarkable for its bas-reliefs, but unsatisfying in its whole effect on account of the poverty of composition. Giralte died in 1576.

Esteban Jordan was the contemporary of Giralte. He was born at the beginning of the sixteenth century and died in 1598 or 1599. We read that Berruguete was the godfather of his son, which seems to suggest an intimate relationship, if not pupilship, between the two artists. But Jordan has very little of the vigorous style of Berruguete. Like Giralte, he was a carver of second-rate merit, who attained fame in his lifetime, but was afterwards forgotten. His best works are the retablo of Santa Maria Magdalena at Valladolid and the tomb of Archbishop Don Pedro Gasco in the same church.

Another Spaniard who learnt his art in Italy was Tudelilla, a native of Tarragona. He was born at the end of the fifteenth century, and after studying in Italy, in 1527 returned to Spain, in which year we find him charged with the construction and decoration of the choir enclosure of Zaragoza Cathedral (Plate 118). The style in which it is carried out is known in Spain as Plateresque, a name derived from plateros, or silver-work, and applied to this form of carving from its elegance and delicacy of execution. The choir is composed of twelve highly ornamented columns, which have a frieze and pediments of delicate workmanship. In the centre is placed a Crucifixion, while between the columns and on either side are statues of saints and four bas-reliefs representing scenes in the lives of St. Vincent and St. Valere, the patrons of the church. In Spain it is held in great estimation, but it must be admitted that the decoration is mannered and of a professional stamp. Tudelilla was largely employed by the nobility of Zaragoza in the decoration of their palaces. We read in contemporary writers of the splendour of these buildings, but almost without exception they have been destroyed. It was the common custom at this period of artistic wealth to lavish large sums on the decoration with statues and sculpture of both the outside and the interior of private dwellings. Wherever these palaces remain they should be studied, as they contain many fine examples of Spanish carving.

Among other carvers who were the contemporaries of Berruguete we may mention Diego Morlanes, who completed the portal of the convent church of Santa Engracia at Zaragoza, which was begun by his father Juan in 1505, while a further example of his sumptuous style is the chapel of St. Bernard in the cathedral, with the monument of Archbishop Fernando of Aragon and his mother. Juan de Talavere and Etienne Veray executed the sumptuous portal of the Church of the Virgin at Calatayud; Diego de Riaño and Martin Gainoza worked at Seville, and their carvings in the Sacristia Mayor and in the Capilla Real of the cathedral illustrate the elaborate and fantastic forms in which the native workers now took increasing delight. Of greater importance are Juan Rodriguez and Gerónimo Pellicier, who executed the retablo of the Monastery del Parral at Segovia (Plate 119).

All these sculptors and carvers were in greater or less degree imitators of Berruguete. We have in addition numerous anonymous works, some of splendid merit. The enumeration of these carvings would fill a separate volume. Burgos, Seville, and many churches are veritable museums of polychrome sculpture; while many churches, such, for instance, as the Convent of Poblet, now robbed and left bare, were formerly treasure-houses of sculptures. The limit of space makes it impossible to do justice to this multitude of work. The epoch was marked by a wealth of production which shows the enthusiasm that then prevailed for the plastic arts.

The history of Spanish sculpture would be incomplete did we omit to mention the Custodias which almost no large church in Spain is without. These idealistic tower-like structures, always wrought in silver and finely carved, are the great architectural achievements of the metal-workers. The first examples belong to the Gothic period. The Custodia of the Cathedral of Gerona, richly adorned with enamels and precious stones, is one of the most beautiful, while another of almost equal merit is that of Barcelona. The sixteenth century was the great period for the production of these silver works, and this was due mainly to the talented Arfes, a Spanish family of German origin, who produced Custodias for most of the important cathedrals. To Enrique de Arfe (1470-1550), the first of the family, we owe the Custodias of Cordova and Toledo; these works are in the late Gothic style. But the most celebrated member of the family was Juan Arfes, the grandson of Enrique, who was born about the middle and died at the close of the sixteenth century. He was the creator of the celebrated Custodia of Avila (Plate 120). He also executed two Custodias for the city of Valladolid—one for the Convent of Carmel and the other for the cathedral. This work bears an inscription, “Juan de Arfe y Villafañe, f. MDXC.,” and the price paid for it was 1,518,092 maravedis. At about the same time he made another Custodia for the Cathedral of Burgos, and yet another for that of Seville. Besides excelling as a silversmith, Juan was an excellent carver of statues, though he always used the title escultor de plata y oro (sculptor of gold and silver). His skill as a sculptor is proved by the group of Adam and Eve, which was executed to occupy the centre of the first stage of the Valladolid Custodia, but is now on the pedestal. His greatest sculptured piece was the kneeling statue of Cristobal de Royas y Sandoval, Archbishop of Seville, in the Church of San Pedro de Lerma at Burgos (Plates 121 and 122). Juan died before the completion of the work, which was finished by Fernandez del Moral, under the direction of Pompeo Leoni; and for this reason this splendid monument for long has been wrongly attributed to Leoni.

With the silversmiths we may class the orfrays, or embroiderers, who at this time attained a position of great importance. Cean Bermudez praises especially Marcos Covarrubias, the master embroiderer of Toledo Cathedral, who in 1514 carried out the beautiful decorations of Cardinal Cisneros’ monument. Other celebrated “embroiderers” were Gabriel Carvajal of Seville Cathedral, and a French Hieronimite monk named Monserrate, who settled in Spain in the sixteenth century and worked for the monastery of the Escorial. He was a master of the delicate art of “needlework in stone.” Nor must we forget the Spanish metal-workers, who wrought the exquisite railings in the cathedrals of Burgos, Seville, Salamanca, Toledo, Pampeluna, and elsewhere, which are masterpieces of art. These works, besides flowers, foliage, and decorations, contain medallions of men’s and women’s heads, sometimes oxidised, but often gilded and polychromed. For this reason, if for nothing else, these church railings must be studied by those who wish to know the Spanish polychromes. These small medallions are carried out with exquisite delicacy and beauty.

CHAPTER VII

THE RENAISSANCE, AND THE INFLUENCE OF MICHAEL ANGELO (continued)—THE SCHOOLS OF VALLADOLID AND MADRID