THE SCHOOL OF ANDALUSIA—JUAN MARTINEZ MONTA?éS—SEVILLE AND ITS SCULPTORS  
The Andalusian school of sculpture was an offshoot from the school of Castile and Aragon, though in some respects its history was different. The reason of its late development is not difficult to find. In Southern Spain the Moorish influence was stronger and more enduring than in the North; and for all their secular buildings the Spaniards adopted Moorish designs and Moorish methods of decoration. The Alcázar of Seville, in its original state before alterations, and the Casa de Pilatos, are very pure mudéjar monuments. There was no abrupt transition between the Persian architecture and the classic style of the Renaissance. It was in the churches alone that opportunity arose for the development of Christian architecture. We find Roman or Gothic structures according to the epochs of their building. But even the churches retained the minaret in the form of clock-towers,{118} and other Moorish features, as, for instance, the Puerta del Perdon of the Cathedral of Seville.
It was the erection of these Christian edifices that brought the opportunity for the opening of studios of sculpture. Native carvers arose, who at first drew their inspiration from the more advanced art of the North. Then the fifteenth century opened with the building of the great Cathedral of Seville, an event which drew foreign artists to the Southern capital from Flanders and also from Italy. These foreigners trained worthy native pupils, and from this time we may date the rise and importance of the Sevillian school.
One of the first foreigners to arrive was Lorenzo de Mercadante, a Breton, whose power speaks in the monument of Cardinal Cervantes, in the cathedral, the earliest perfect portrait-statue in Southern Spain. In the cathedral, which is a veritable museum of polychrome art, we find graceful and charming statues, which show the influence of Mercadante. We may mention the beautiful Virgen de Madro?e (Virgin of the arbutus flower) and the Virgen del Reposo; both statues are polychromed, but the latter work has been to a large extent ruined by injudicious restoration. These Virgins are fine examples of the ideal treatment, expressing genuine beauty{119} with dignity and sweetness, which the native artists achieved in representing the Mother of God. Spain is the land of the Blessed Virgin.
To the teaching of Lorenzo Mercadante we owe the native artists Nufro Sánchez and Maestro Dancart, the earliest of the Sevillian carvers, who were appointed master sculptors to the cathedral at an annual salary of 10,000 maravedis. Their first work was the choir-stalls, which were begun in 1475 by Sánchez, and finished by Dancart in 1479. Of this work Professor Carl Justi says “its vein of invention and humour recalls the South German masters.”
Four years later Dancart was entrusted with the important work of erecting the grand altar of the cathedral (Plate 134). He executed the design, but the work was carried out by his pupils Marco and Bernardo de Ortega. The latter artist worked at the screen until his death in 1505, when the completion of the work was left to his son Francesco and to his grandson Bernardino. Gomez Oroco, George and Alexis Fernando Aleman, and Andres de Covarrubias also worked at different parts of the screen. In 1519, when the work was completed, the canons, for some reason not known, employed a pupil of Fernando Aleman named Moya to modify the design. He{120} was three years over the work, which he finished in the autumn of 1564. Some years later two wings were added, and the screen was finally completed in 1564. This mixed authorship was a mistake, and has resulted in a want of continuity in the design which has marred to some extent the beauty and harmony of the work.
Of more importance are the carvings of Pedro Millan, a pupil of Nufro Sánchez, who takes rank as the first really important master of the Sevillian school. The date of his birth is unknown. We hear of him first in the year 1505, when he executed the statues for the cimborium of the cathedral, which unfortunately were destroyed when the copula fell on December 28, 1512. Pedro worked in the style of the Burgundian masters, and his carvings show a genuinely creative talent, united with a true study of nature. To him we owe the statues in terra-cotta known as the Baptismo and the Nacimiento, which are outside two of the cathedral doors. The heads and hands are most beautifully modelled and the draperies are skilfully handled to display the figures. The bas-relief inserted in the pointed spandrel between the first ribs of the flying-arch, which represents the Adoration of the Magi, is also the work of Pedro Millan. But his best-{121}known statue is the noble Virgen del Pilar, in the Capilla de Nuestra Se?ora del Pilar. M. Marcel Dieulafoy believes that this is an earlier work than the terra-cotta bas-reliefs. Its importance is great on account of the polychrome, the original colours having been most carefully preserved. The flesh-tints are beautiful, delicate rose-shades on the cheeks, lips, and ends of the fingers. The robe shows reflections of pale gold, and the mantle, of the same tint, has arabesques of brown, while the veil is in full gilt. Besides these works in the cathedral, there are two statues of Pedro’s in private collections in Seville, and one is a masterpiece. This is the small polychromed statuette of St. Michael in the possession of Don Jose Gestoso y Perez. Like most of this artist’s works, it is executed in terra-cotta. It bears the signature of Pedro Millan in Gothic characters. The other statue group is a Pietà, in which the Virgin, Mary Magdalen, and St. John mourn over the body of Christ. It is in the gallery of Don Lopéz Cepero, y 7, Plaza de Alfaro. Unfortunately it has been painted a horrible stone colour and quite disfigured. Pedro Millan also furnished the models for the small terra-cotta figures on the beautiful portal of Santa Paula, which were executed by Niculoso of Pisa, the{122} author of the curious altar in terra-cotta in the Alcázar.
It was about this period that the Italian influences of the Renaissance began to be felt in Andalusia. Artists were attracted to Seville by the growing opulence of the city. Besides this, Italian works of art were brought to decorate the palaces of the nobles. Vasari, for instance, tells us Luca del Robbia sent several of his works to the Spanish king for his Southern capital, and he speaks also of a large bronze bas-relief, representing a fight between nude men, the work of Antonio Pallando, which had the same destination. But the old Flemish traditions were very deeply rooted, and remained longer active here than in the Northern schools of Castile and Aragon. Thus a style arose that united the two sources of inspiration.
The oratory and screen of Isabella la Catolica in the Alcázar are interesting examples of the expression of this double influence (Plate 135). They are the work of Francisco Niculoso Pisano, an Italian artist who settled in Seville, and whose work was of importance in directing the art of the sixteenth century; the altar bears his inscription, “Francisco Niculoso me fecit,” with the date 1503. The principal parts of the altar and also the screen are in very pure Italian style, but the{123} panel above the altar, as well as some details of the decoration, show clearly the old Spanish traditions founded on the Flemish methods. This may be explained as M. Marcel Dieulafoy suggests, if we accept the theory that the Italian master employed his colleague Pedro Millan to assist him in the execution of the work.
Another foreigner who helped in the introduction of Italian art to the native workers of Seville was Miguel, known as “the Florentine,” who worked with the wood-carvers in the cathedral. Afterwards, in the last years of the fifteenth century, Miguel executed the tomb of Mendoza, Archbishop of Seville. After the completion of this work, which gained much admiration, Miguel was constantly employed by the chapter, and he remained working in Seville until his death in the middle years of the century, when his position was taken by his son Micer Antonio Florentine, an artist of even greater talent than his father. Among Miguel’s works are the statues of St. Paul and St. John at either side of the Puerta del Perdon, and the bas-relief above representing Christ turning the Money-changers out of the Temple (Plate 136), and also the life-size terra-cotta statues on the enclosure of the Capilla Mayor.{124}
But the most famous of the Italian sculptors of Seville is Pietro Torrigiano, the disciple and rival of Michael Angelo. Torrigiano was born at Florence in the year 1470, and his work early proclaimed him a master. It is recorded that in a fit of rage he broke his rival’s nose with his fist, and as a result of this act of jealousy he had to flee from Italy. For a time he adopted the calling of a soldier, but, angered at not gaining promotion, he again took up his chisel. We hear of him next in England, where he gained fame and wealth by his chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey. But Torrigiano’s roving disposition again sent him wandering, and he went to Spain, first to Granada, where he competed for the order to execute the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, but, being unsuccessful, he came to Seville, in which city he finally settled. He died in 1522 in a dungeon of the Inquisition, which Vasari says was due to his smashing in a fit of rage a statue of the Virgin, ordered by the Duke of Arcos, because he considered the payment insufficient. But Cean Bermudez, though he does not deny the story, states that Torrigiano was charged with heresy.
The influence exercised in Seville by this great Italian was far-reaching, and his statues, though{125} few in number, were the models from which the native workers drew their inspiration. In style Torrigiano closely resembled Michael Angelo. We owe to him the statue of the Madonna (Plate 137) and that of St. Jerome (Plate 138), which were executed for the Convent of San Jerónimo, but are now in the museum. The figures are in terra-cotta, and are splendidly modelled, and both are polychromed. The tints used are simple, and harmonious to the model. The face and hands of St. Jerome are a brownish tone, as we should expect in one exposed to the action of the sun; the draperies are of a light red brown. The flesh tints of the Madonna and her child are charming; she wears a rose-coloured robe with a mantle of light blue, grey lined, and with a gold border. To Torrigiano we owe also the fine medallion in marble on the front of the Church of La Caridad, and another on that of the Jesuits. M. Marcel Dieulafoy ascribes to Torrigiano the statue of St. Jerome, now at Granada, in the Church of Santa Ana. It is a fine piece of sculpture, but the polychrome has been destroyed through want of care.
After the death of Pedro Millan and Torrigiano we find in Seville a band of capable artists, though none are equal in merit to Gregorio Hernandez,{126} who at the same time was working in Valladolid. At their head stands Micer Antonio Florentine, who, on the death of his father Miguel, took charge of his studio, and continued to direct the activities of the Sevillian sculptors. The best known of his own works was the Good Friday monument for the cathedral which he designed, modelling its statues with his own hands. His contemporary, Bartoloméo Morel, was the author of the statue of Faith Triumphant which crowns the Giralda Tower (Plate 139), and also of the celebrated Tenebrario of the cathedral of which Cean Bermudez says “that it is of its kind the finest piece of sculpture in Spain.” In this work collaborated Pedro Delgado, a capable artist, and the favourite pupil of Antonio Florentine. Pedro Delgado himself had many pupils. Among them were Juan Bautista Vasquez, one of the many artists who worked on the altar-screen of Toledo Cathedral, and Juan Giralte, a Flemish carver, who seems to have executed much work, but whose history is unknown.
Jerónimo Hernandez was an artist of higher merit. Though he was a pupil of Pedro Delgado, he drew his inspiration from Torrigiano. This explains the attribution of the St. Jerome of{127} the cathedral to the Italian master. But this fine sculpture is undoubtedly the work of Jerónimo Hernandez. He was also the author of the beautiful Jesus, and a Resurrection in the possession of the Dulce Nombre Brotherhood; of a lost work, a group of the Virgen del Rosario with the Infant Jesus in her arms and St. Domenico and St. Catherine kneeling at her feet; and of the altar-screen of the Convent of San Leandro. These statues prove that Jerónimo Hernandez was a carver of distinguished merit. In the altar-screen of San Leandro he was assisted by Juan de Sancedo and Vasco de Pereyra, a celebrated Portuguese painter, who carried out the painting and gilding of the statues.
A pupil of Jerónimo Hernandez was Gaspar Nicolas Delgado, who also studied with his uncle Pedro Delgado. He gained a higher reputation than his masters, and in Seville is accounted as one of the greatest sculptors. This estimate is misleading. His chief work, the St. John the Baptist in the Desert, which is in the chapel of the Nuns of St. Clemente though a bas-relief of real merit, the landscape especially being well represented, does not justify his position as a master. The merit of the work{128} has gained from the fine polychrome, which was carried out by the artist Pacheco.
A third artist who worked at this period, and a carver of more personal talent, was Capitan Cepeda, a native of Cordova, who, like Torrigiano was in turn a soldier and artist. He served in Italy and afterwards came to Seville, being summoned there by the goldsmiths of the city for the special work of arousing a devotion for the Crucified Christ. With this object Cepeda modelled the Cristo de la Expiracion which now stands on the altar of the small chapel of the museum. It is a work of Spanish realism, finely executed, with every detail of sorrow expressed and accentuated by the violent attitude and gesture. Again we would emphasise the fact that such a work can only be estimated truly by remembering the Spanish religious spirit. Cepeda represents in Seville the style which Juan Juni made popular in the Northern schools. Like that artist, his interest rests in the individuality of his work, which is national and wholly Spanish, while his contemporaries, Jerónimo Hernandez and Gaspar Nicolas Delgado, followed the newer influences from Italy.
The Sevillian school had not yet produced a master. But the time was now ripe. In the{129} closing years of the century there came to Seville the man who raised polychrome sculpture to its highest rank, and who was the greatest carver of Spain. His name was Juan Martinez Monta?és.
Of the early life of this great artist we know almost nothing beyond the fact that he was the pupil of Pablo Rojas, a sculptor of Cordova. We first have definite information about him in the year 1582, when he with his wife came to the Monastery of Dulce Nombre de Jesus at Seville, where we learn they were granted free residence for life in recognition of an Image of the Virgin executed for the brotherhood. Two years later, in 1590, Monta?és was at work for the Carmelite nuns. Nothing further of the artist’s life is known until the year 1607, when he completed a Jesus for the Santísimo Brotherhood of the cathedral. The record of this work proves that Monta?és was then living in the Arquillo de Roel............