One of the finest specimens of this artistic industry (and we place it first because it is a typical example) is the splendid reja which divides the nave from the "Royal Chapel" in the Cathedral of Granada (Plate [XIX]).
This Cathedral is, on the whole, the best Renaissance building in Spain, and in plan one of the finest churches in Europe; and the "Royal Chapel" is the most interesting feature of its interior. This Chapel was erected in the late Gothic style, in 1506-17, for the reception of the tombs of the "Catholic Kings," and was afterwards enlarged by Charles V., who found it "too small for so great glory." Besides the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella it contains those of the parents of Charles V.
| PLATE XXI | CHAPEL SCREEN, SEVILLE CATHEDRAL |
The reja which guards it was completed about 1522, by the celebrated Bartolomé of Jaen, who also worked at Seville, and whom the records of the time describe as "sculptor and iron-master." Its important size enabled the artist to carry out a splendid scheme of ornamentation in the "plateresque" style, combined with reliefs, on a large scale, of figures of apostles and saints, terminating at the upper part with a wide ornamental band of conventional floral decoration in relief, crowned with a Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John on either side. The ornamentation was originally gilded and the figures painted in oil colors. The balustrades and supports are forged with the hammer. The figures and circular piers are formed of large plates, repoussé and carved in a most admirable manner, and an examination of them will give a good idea of the technical mastery over the material which the artists of this time had attained long before the various mechanical facilities of the present day existed.
This reja at Granada is entirely of iron, which most Spanish rejas are not, and is the earliest specimen of anything like equal importance in Spain. It has been chosen as the first specimen to be here described, not only because of the early date of its construction, but because it excellently illustrates the salient merits of the best type of Spanish cathedral screen. The first of these merits is a general transparency,—a highly important quality in a wrought-iron screen so placed, for if such a screen be covered with sufficient ornament to arrest the eye on its surface when viewing the interior of the cathedral as a whole, it detracts from the general architectural effect, serving indeed, to block the nave as a wall where no wall was intended. In such a screen as the present one, however, the slight vertical piers almost disappear unless the sight be focussed upon them, while the ornamental portions seem apparently suspended in mid air and do not in any way injure the general architectural scheme or decrease the apparent space. The rectangularity of the design gives great repose; and the division into departments, which allows of the concentration of strength in skeleton lines, affords sufficient constructional stiffness without involving too much formality. The design is both beautiful and appropriate. At the summit the crucifixion, below the leading incidents of biblical history, and, in a central panel about twenty feet square, grouped in a decorative design, the full heraldic insignia of the monarchs who repose in the tombs which the screen guards. The lock bears a small inscription giving the name of the artist, "Maestro Bartolomé me fec."
To consider in detail the multitude of similar rich and beautiful railings which happily survive in Spanish cathedrals and churches, would be impossible, even were it possible to illustrate them; but, for the most part, they have never been drawn or photographed, and a brief description of those illustrated in our plates must here suffice.
The Cathedral of Seville is undoubtedly one of the largest, handsomest and richest Gothic churches in Christendom, and was once a veritable museum of works of art. An old saying groups the chief churches of Spain together as "Toledo la rica, Salamanca la fuerte, Leon la bella, Oviedo la sacra, e Sevilla la grande." It originally contained some very beautiful rejas, including two famous ones by Sancho Muñoz; but these with many other art treasures, were destroyed by the twice falling of the dome, first in 1511 and again in 1888, due to earthquake shocks. The three chapel screens shown in our illustrations (Plates [XX.], [XXI.], and [page 41]) remain, however, to show how rich in iron work this Cathedral originally must have been. The names of the artists of these screens are not certainly known. The "Altar de la Gamba," shown in Plate [XX.], derives its curious name, "The Altar of the Leg," from the finely painted leg of Adam in the picture which adorns the shrine, representing our first parents adoring the Virgin.