The Cathedral of Barcelona, one of the noblest creations of Spanish Gothic, stands upon the highest point of the ancient city, on a site originally occupied by a Roman temple and later by a Moorish mosque. On the southwest the cathedral is adjoined by magnificent Gothic cloisters, finished in 1448. Along the northwest side of these cloisters is a row of chapels, placed back to back with the chapels of the southwest aisle of the church. The entrances to these chapels are closed by iron grilles of simple but dignified design. One of them is shown in our illustration (Plate [XXII.]).
Although the cathedral of Avila was commenced in 1091 its general character is that of the end of the twelfth or early part of the thirteenth century, though the solemn and dignified interior is designed in a style of a later date. Besides the beautiful reja here shown (Plate [XXIII.]), which divides the high altar from the church proper, it contains a fine iron pulpit ([page 47.])
| PLATE XXII | CLOISTER SCREEN, BARCELONA CATHEDRAL |
Iron pulpits, so rare elsewhere, have been made in Spain with great success. The one here illustrated shows a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance detail, but the whole is of contemporary workmanship, and presents an interesting example of the transitional style. The primitive method of working through thin plates superimposed to form tracery is here adhered to, and the whole is applied to a wooden framework. The pulpit was originally gilt. It dates from the end of the fifteenth century, and shows the influence of the Flemish masters who at about that period set so many fashions in Burgos and its vicinity. The wrought-iron screen (shown on [page 47]), now preserved in the collection of the Louvre, belongs to the same time, and is of the same style of workmanship.
| SCREEN, ZAPORTA CHAPEL | CHURCH OF LA SEO, SARAGOSSA |
The interior of the cathedral of Burgos is, from its lofty spacious proportions, one of the finest in Spain, and is surrounded, unsymmetrically but not unpicturesquely, by fourteen chapels, all distinguished by some particular beauty of construction or ornamentation. The chief of these chapels, situated at the east end of the cathedral, is the gorgeous "Capilla del Condestable," built for Don Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, hereditary Constable of Castile, in 1487. This chapel contains superbly sculptured tombs of the Constable and his wife, and the lofty reja (Plate [XXVI.]) which guards the entrance to it has been considered one of the finest specimens of its kind, owing to the perfection with which every detail is carried out. It is the master-piece of Cristoval de Andino, and was constructed in 1523. A contemporary writer describing it says: "Good workmen, and those who wish that their work may have authority and be blameless, must endeavor to be guided by ancient models, as was your fellow citizen Cristoval de Andino; and his works are thereby more elegant and excellent than any others which I have seen up to the present time. If you think otherwise, judge of his work by looking at the reja which he is making for your lord, the Constable, which is undoubtedly superior to all those that have hitherto been made in Spain." The centre of the upper part of the reja bears the signature of the artist, "Ab. Andino, A.D. MDXXIII."