Sculpture in Spain

by Albert Frederick Calvert

There are few sculptures left which can with any certainty be referred to the Visigothic period. The fragments discovered at San Romano de Hornija, at Toledo, and at Seville, though they bear vestiges of Visigothic workmanship, belong in reality to the Christian period. It would seem that the Visigoths for the most part limited their work to restoring the Roman buildings and adapting them for Christian uses. The ornamentation which they often added is usually of Byzantine origin, an influence reaching Spain through France. Yet the sumptuous character of their art is shown in the only important works of this period which remain: the splendid votive crowns of Kings Recceswinth and Swenthila, found in 1858 at Guarraza, near Toledo (Plate 1), and now in the Royal Armoury, Madrid, and in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. But these crowns are not Spanish works. Indeed many centuries separate the genuinely Spanish carvings of the Iberian artists from any work that again manifests the characters which belong to the native art.

It has been said by Professor Carl Justi, in a short but excellent account of Spanish sculpture which is given in Baedeker’s “Guide to Spain,” that “the existence of works in stone can hardly be proved before the eleventh century.” This is a mistake. The early Christian carvings are in stone; they must be sought in Asturias, the provinces which first shook off the Moorish rule.

In 791 Alfonso II., known as the Chaste, made Oviedo the capital of the then struggling kingdom of Asturias. He was a ruler of ability and culture, and spent all his time when he was not fighting in building both churches and palaces. On his return from his campaigns he consecrated the spoils taken from the enemy to embellish his growing city.

The most important of the buildings of Alfonso is the Cámara Santa of the cathedral, once the Capilla San Miguel, which was part of the original church of Alfonso, and was built in the eighth century by his architect Favila. The room itself is small, without ornament, roofed with low barrel vaulting, and lighted with one small window. But here are guarded the relics in the Byzantine-Latin style, which are among the most interesting examples that remain to us of the work of the period. The Cruz de los Angeles, a work of the eighth century and the gift of Alfonso II., and the Cruz de la Victoria, supposed to have belonged to Pelayo, both resemble very closely the crowns of Guarraza; like them, they are not typically Spanish work. That of the Angeles is of filigree work of exquisite delicacy, and enriched in the centre with rare encrusted rubies and other precious stones; while that of the Victory is made of wood, but Alfonso III. had it overlaid with gold and ornamented with jewels. A third relic, the cash-box of St. Eulalia, has its chief interest in the inscription in Arabic and Cufic characters which surrounds the cover. A special historical interest belongs to the relic known as the Arca de los Santos. The cover, on which is engraved the figures of the Apostles, and the Latin inscriptions belong, by the character of the vestments, which are those described by St. Isidore, and by the letters used, to the sixth or seventh centuries; while the Saviour and angels on the box itself, the inscriptions in Cufic lettering, as well as the general style of reliquary, have the characters which belong to the Spanish works of the eleventh and early years of the twelfth centuries. The explanation, of course, is that the casket was restored and its character altered at a later date, and probably in the reign of Alfonso VI. This mingling of different styles and periods in one work of art meets us continually in Spain. It is due in large measure to the custom by which the Spaniards used and borrowed the arts of the Moors, even for long after they had conquered them.

There are a few works in the Madrid Archæological Museum which are in the Latin-Byzantine style, and should be compared with the treasure of the Cámara Santa, and to the same period belong other relics now in different churches in the Peninsula.

In the reign of Alfonso the Chaste were built the churches of San Tirso and San Tulliano or Julian, which, though unfortunately much restored, may still be visited in Oviedo. Belonging to an even earlier date was the Church of Santa Cruz de Canjas, which was built by the royal architect Favila, in Alfonso’s reign, and which was the original church on the Monte Santo, the site where the cathedral of Oviedo now stands. This church was rebuilt by Alfonso II. in 830, and surrounded by protecting walls. The ancient Spanish chroniclers expatiate on the magnificence of these buildings of Alfonso, speaking of their columns of marble, and wealth of decorations of gold and silver. Doubtless they exaggerate; to-day there is very little of interest to be seen remaining in the edifices.

Much more important are the buildings erected by Alfonso’s successor, Ramiro I. (843-850), a king of unusual culture, who, in spite of continual wars with the Moors, found time to carry further the improvement of the royal city of Oviedo. During this reign, writes M. Marcel Dieulafoy, “there was a veritable renaissance of the plastic arts.” Two of these buildings that we owe to Ramiro I. are still in existence, and though sadly neglected and disfigured by alterations, they should be visited by all who take an interest in early Spanish work. They stand together on the summit of the low mountain Naranco, which is situated one and a quarter miles from Oviedo. The first, the Church of San Miguel, is a basilica with nave and aisles. We recognise in the heavy pillars with splayed capitals and massive polygonal bases, as also in the frequently used cord and twisted fringe, so characteristic of the period, a marked Byzantine character. Many sculptured subjects occur among the foliage which decorates both the bases and capitals of the columns. These heads must be attributed either to the Roman traditions or, as is more likely, to the early French schools. The other church is even more interesting. Santa Maria de Naranco probably formed part of Ramiro’s palace, but the building was converted into a church about the year 905. It consists of a cellar-like nave, with waggon vaulting, opening by three arches into a choir at one end and a presbytery at the other. Below is a crypt. Here the work shows strong Roman influence, and most precious details of ornament occur.

Another church of great interest belonging to this early period is that of San Pedro in the ancient city of Zamora. True bas-reliefs are here introduced among the leafy decorations of the capitals: one, still in excellent preservation, represents the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. This is very remarkable—one of those surprises that meet the student so often in Spanish art—for the Byzantine sculptors did not customarily use the human figure in such circumstances.

This bas-relief brings us to the very few Spanish statues of this period, when all the skill of the artists seems to have been spent in buildings. There is the small ivory crucifix, formerly painted and encrusted with gems, in the Museum of Leon (Plate 2), and the crucifix of the Cid, now at Salamanca (Plate 3). Both are Byzantine in character. The little-known statue of the Virgin and Child, preserved in the sanctuary of Ujué, is a work of greater interest. The figure is ninety-one centimetres in height, and dates, M. Marcel Dieulafoy thinks, from the eleventh, or even the end of the tenth century. The colouring, and also the primitive character of the work, has been spoiled to some extent by added ornaments, and by the silver throne on which the figure now sits. But there is real strength in the face of the Virgin, and more individuality than is common in the Byzantine figures; again we have a hint of Spanish work.

Figures in stone, dating back to the eleventh century, and earlier, may be found on the portals, fonts, and tombs of many Spanish churches, especially in the N.W. and in the district of the Pyrenees. Most of them are of barbaric workmanship, but many are interesting. A painted sculpture of the Saviour seated in the act of blessing, in the Byzantine manner, was discovered in 1895 at Santander. M. Marcel Dieulafoy, who mentions this work, places it in the tenth or the eleventh century.