Spanish Baroque Art: Architecture and Sculpture
The Baroque in Spain
18th Century
In the 18th century, amidst a societal crisis, Spanish Baroque art flourished. It was characterized by the intense religiosity that permeated all levels of society, from kings to the humblest classes. Church architecture evolved from the austerity of Herrera to a more ostentatious and decorative style.
1700 Onward
In 1700, with the accession of Philip V of Bourbon to the throne, Spain’s political and economic situation stabilized. The art of the new century unfolded with two divergent trends:
- Hispanic Baroque: Characterized by an overload of decorative elements (favored by the Church).
- Bourbon Baroque: Inspired by the prevailing ideas in European courts and executed by foreign architects.
Rococo emerged between 1720 and 1760, and the foundation of the Academies advocated for the end of the Baroque period.
Architecture
Main Facade of Hospice of San Fernando
- Architect: Pedro de Ribera
- Chronology: 1722-1729
- Location: Madrid
The facade is organized like an altarpiece, divided into two sections with an intense movement that breaks free from all architectural forms. Stipes, oculi, and undulating beads generate rhythm and guide the eye upward to the niche where the sculpture of San Fernando stands.
The facade resembles a monumental sculpture with a theatrical effect, effectively integrated into the urban fabric.
Altarpiece of St. Stephen
- Architect: José Benito Churriguera (1665-1725)
- Chronology: 1693-1696
- Location: Convento de San Esteban de Salamanca
A precursor to 18th-century Spanish Baroque, its form adapts to the church’s apse and emphasizes the main street (with Coello’s canvas dedicated to the martyrdom of St. Stephen).
The emphasis on the columns and the vibrant entablature creates a spectacular and dynamic effect. Other characteristic features of this Baroque are horror vacui, a penchant for lavish decoration and gilding, the rhythm of curved shapes, and expressionism at all costs, integrating sculpture.
The Churriguera family of architects, who spearheaded this heterogeneous style, coined the pejorative term “Churrigueresco,” which eventually came to designate the Hispanic Baroque that coexisted with the Bourbon court.
Obradoiro Facade of Santiago de Compostela
- Architect: Fernando de Casas y Novoa
- Chronology: 1738
The cathedral’s facade had to fulfill three conditions: cover and protect the Romanesque Portico de la Gloria, integrate the building into the city’s urban structure, and accommodate the Baroque staircase, which was already under construction.
Casas y Novoa masterfully overcame the challenge: the Romanesque doorway was concealed behind a pyramid-shaped facade supported by three rows of fluted columns, divided into two levels and flanked by two towers. The facade’s structure is punctuated by large windows that illuminate the church’s narthex, where the Portico de la Gloria is located. A multi-story, diminishing auction crowns the center of the facade.
The transparent nature of the facade, along with its dynamism, articulation, majesty, and masterful interplay of light and shadow, create a grand spectacle that unfolds to full effect in the urban context.
Palacio Real de Madrid
- Architect: Giovanni Battista Sacchetti
- Chronology: 1736-1764
The Palacio Real de Madrid exemplifies the Bourbon courtly architecture promoted by Philip V, who employed the talents of foreign artists.
This building, based on the traditional pattern of Spanish royal palaces, exhibits a rectangular shape around a central courtyard flanked by watchtowers at the corners, which do not stand out in height but are prominent on the ground.
The facade is divided into a masonry base encompassing the mezzanine and ground floor; three stories of colossal columns and pilasters are vertically attached to this base. A powerful entablature crowned by a balustrade (whose strong horizontal line was truncated by statues of kings that were never made) encloses the building.
Although resolved with grandeur, the exterior resembles a fortress and lacks a relationship with its urban context, despite its landscaping, which takes French design as an axis for the palace.
Plaza Mayor of Salamanca
- Architects: Alberto Churriguera, Andrés García Quiñones (City Hall)
- Chronology: 1728-1755
The construction of the Plaza Mayor began in 1729 when Philip V visited the city and decided to reward Salamanca with a unique building in appreciation for its support during the War of Succession. It was built on the site of the former San Martín Market Square and completed in 1755.
The Plaza consists of four facades, each three stories high and of varying lengths. In the middle of one, facing north, stands the building that houses the Salamanca City Council, topped by a belfry with three bells and four allegorical sculptures representing Agriculture, Industry, Music, and Poetry. At the very top of the City Hall stands a weather vane installed on the famous Mariseca, which is displayed during local festivals.
The walls rise above 88 arches, whose spandrels are adorned with famous medallions depicting characters from the city’s history or the kingdoms of Spain.
Its design had to accommodate the medieval city level. Consequently, the front lines lack symmetry, and the frames are not arranged at regular intervals, which, however, does not detract from its monumental beauty.
The Plaza Mayor was built using the renowned Villamayor stone, which is used in most of the city’s monuments and gives it its characteristic golden color due to the stone’s high iron content.
Alberto Churriguera was responsible for the construction of the plaza, although the City Hall was designed by Andrés de Quiñones. The plaza’s style is Churrigueresque Baroque, a variant characterized by its ornamentation and detail. The Plaza Mayor has served various purposes, from a bullring to a stage for conventions, exhibitions, and shows of all kinds.
Sculpture
Spanish Baroque sculpture is characterized by realism, religious themes, and the use of painted wood. Four artistic centers stand out for their creativity: Valladolid, Seville, Granada, and Madrid.
While the state and nobility experienced a period of decline, monasteries, parishes, and brotherhoods enjoyed a comfortable economic situation that allowed them to become the primary patrons of sculptures at the time.
Gregorio Fernández (1576-1636)
is the greatest exponent of Baroque century Castilian
XVII. Of Galician origin, is established early in Valladolid, from which develops a
encouraged by the intense demand for a wide clientele, from both environmental
popular as the cult (monarchy, nobility, religious orders, guilds …).
The key figure Valladolid school was Francisco del Rincón. Among its
employees had to Gregorio Fernández, the most important representative of this focus.
Excessive pathos. The model of Christ lying without the appearance of the cross or the
Virgin or any other figure of martyrdom was an original creation of the sixteenth century.
These images were usually located on the bank of the altar and before the altar
of the churches on Good Friday.
Gregorio Fernandez made a long series of Christ lying: the San Pablo, Santa
Catalina and Santa Ana in Valladolid, the convents of the Incarnation, San Felipe Neri
San Placido, Madrid, those of the convent of Poor Clares of Monforte de Lemos (Lugo) and
Medina de Pomar (Burgos) and the Cathedral of Segovia.
Excessive pathos of the Spanish Baroque sculpture represented a radical break
with realistic classicism. To enhance the drama, it made use of polychrome, of
violent chiaroscuro and all kinds of accessories (glass eyes, glass fragments
represented tears, natural hair …).
The aim was to promote religious fervor of the faithful by showing pictures next to
them.
Unlike the French and Italian sculptors, who used preferentially
marble and bronze works, the Spanish chose the wood.
The technique of wood carving had a laborious process: after the class is
covered the sculpture with a layer of plaster and was often coated with a thin cloth glued
directly to the wood, then apply the colors to the temple.
Traditionally worked from a single trunk, but sometimes the parties
protruding more were assembled.
After the discovery of America, Sevilla acquired great economic importance, which
resulted in the presence of many sculptors.
Juan Martinez Montanes (Alcalá la Real (Jaén), 1568 – Sevilla, June 18, 1649
consolidated and disseminated the Seville school. Alonso Cano, but belonged to the Granada school,
played a role in Seville sculpture of the second third of the century.
Montanes was formed in Grenada, and completed his education in the circles Mannerist
Seville. With the collaboration of Francisco Pacheco to give his polychrome sculptures.
His work moves away from the drama Valladolid, attitudes are gentle, but highly
interior. Stresses the Immaculate, 1629, in polychrome wood commonly known as
The blind girl.
Prominent among the many who made crucified along the well-known life
as the Christ of the clemency of 1603-1604. In his eyes turned toward the faithful, and their
factions as perfectly real, some have believed to see the clemency of the crucified to the
polychrome sinners due to Francisco Pacheco, a teacher and father of Diego Velazquez
contemporary of his.