THE SCHOOL OF GRANADA AND ALONSO CANO—THE DECLINE OF SCULPTURE—FRANCISCO ZARCELLO  
The school of Granada was an offshoot from the school of Seville, and it owes its glory chiefly to one man, who must be considered as the pupil of Monta?és.
Alonso Cano was born at Granada, on the 17th of March 1601, and was baptized in the parish church of San Ildefonso, where the register of his baptism may still be seen. His father, Miguel Cano, was a carver of retablos, and it was with him that the young Cano learnt the rudiments of his art. Before long his talent gained the notice of the painter Juan del Castillo, who recommended the removal of the Cano family to Seville for the sake of better instruction. Cano entered for eight months the studio of Francisco Pacho, where he learnt painting, having for his fellow-student Velazquez. Afterwards he became the assistant of Juan del Castillo. In sculpture he was the{152} pupil of Monta?és, and for several years he worked under his guidance. There seems to have been a great friendship between the master and pupil. Cano’s debt to Monta?és was very great, and his early works in Seville, executed under the direction of the master, are proof of how completely he assimilated his style.
Cano’s earliest sculptured works were three retablos, designed, carved, and painted, one for the College of San Alberto, and two for the Conventual Church of Santa Paula. Zurbaran and Pacheco were employed with Cano in executing the altar-screen of San Alberto, and Cean Bermudez tells us that his work surpassed theirs in merit. In the execution of the two altar-screens for Santa Paula he was helped by Gaspar de Ribas, who worked with him under the direction of Monta?és. These screens remain in the Church of Santa Paula—one over the altar of St. John the Baptist, the other over that of St. John the Evangelist. They are pieces of harmonious work, altogether praiseworthy, which show Cano’s combined power as architect, sculptor, painter, and damask worker. The finer is the altar of St. John the Baptist. The statue of the prophet and a bas-relief representing the Baptism of Christ are at either side, and between a beautiful representa{153}tion of figures carrying the head of St. John on a charger; then to right and left, between the columns, are placed statues of the Saints, and these surmount figures of the Virtues and Cherubim. The hand of a master is seen everywhere.
Besides the altar-screens of Santa Paula, there are a few good carvings that belong to this period of Cano’s youth. There is a Conception in the nunnery of Santa Paula, placed over the doorway, and a second, and perhaps finer, Conception is in the parish church of San Andrés, and there is also in the same church a very beautiful Child Jesus, unfortunately dressed in a satin robe which quite hides the body. These statues are all good, and indeed might be ascribed to Monta?és except for a weakness in the modelling of the nude portions, a fault which Cano afterwards overcame. The few other carvings in Seville that are ascribed to Cano are less certainly by him, and are works of little interest.
An important undertaking belongs to the year 1628. Miguel Cano had been employed to erect a new high altar for the church at Lebrija, a small town situated forty-five miles from Seville on the way to Jeréz. The altar was already designed, but the actual carving was not started, when Miguel Cano died. It fell to his son to{154} complete the work. Four pieces of sculpture were executed; a Crucifixion to be placed above the altar, colossal statues of St. Paul and St. Peter for its second storey, and a small and exquisite image of the Virgin enshrined within a curtained niche above the slab of the altar. This last is perhaps the most pleasing sculpture of this early period; it is one of those really beautiful pieces which cause us to forgive much of Cano’s commonplace work.
It was soon after this that Cano left Seville. He could not bear any superior in his art except his master to be near him, and he challenged a fellow-painter, Sebastian de Llano y Valdés, whose success had enraged him. He stabbed and wounded him, and, to escape the action of the ecclesiastical authorities, he fled to Madrid. Here he renewed his friendship with Velazquez, and through his influence gained an appointment to work in the royal palaces, besides having the honour of being professor to Prince Baltasar Carlos.
During this period, and in the years that followed, Cano did more painting than modelling, and we have many pictures from his hand, some of which may be seen in the Prado Museum. In 1643 we find Cano at Toledo soliciting work in the cathedral. He did not obtain it, and returned{155} to Madrid, where, soon afterwards, he was accused of murdering his wife. This was the beginning of a period of turmoil and wandering. Cano fled to the city of Valencia and afterwards took refuge in the Cartuja of Portacali. But later on, returning to Madrid, he fell under the tribunal of the Inquisition. After suffering the torture, he was adjudged innocent of the crime with which he was charged, and appointed Majordomo of the Brotherhood of Nuestra Se?ora de los Dolores. This was a source of fresh trouble, and Cano was fined a sum of a hundred ducats for refusing to assist in the procession in Holy Week beside the alguazils of the court—a characteristic incident, for Cano was a man who never crossed his own wishes. Cano again left Madrid, and we find him in Toledo, employed by the chapter to inspect the works in the octagon chapel. Afterwards he must have gone to Valencia and Malaga, then he appears again at Madrid. But he seems to have sought an opportunity to leave the royal city, and a canonry being vacant in the Cathedral of Granada, he petitioned the post from Philip IV., which was granted by a royal decree, dated September 11, 1651, under conditions that he should take orders within a year. But the year passed and Cano was not ordained, and his pre{156}bendaryship was declared vacant. Whereupon Cano, who was still governed by self-will, took his grievance to the courts. A chaplaincy was conferred on him by the Bishop of Salamanca, and the artist was ordained a sub-deacon. Then the king ordered, by a decree dated April 14, 1658, that the Granada prebendaryship should be restored to him, with the condition that he adopted ecclesiastical dress, which hitherto he had refused to wear. At last, in 1659, Cano returned to Granada, and took possession of his prebendaryship, which he occupied in peace for the remaining eight years of his life.
This was the period of Cano’s greatest activity. The only sculptured works achieved during these turbulent years were the design for the Holy Week monument of the Church of St. Gines, Madrid, and also the design and the superintending of the building of the triumphal arch erected at the Guadalajara gate for the entry of Queen Mariana on her marriage with Philip IV. But now the restless artist had found a fixed home in the city of his birth, with unhindered opportunity for the exercise of his facile gifts.
Granada, and especially the cathedral—in the bell tower of which building his studio was—owe much to these years of Cano’s residence. His{157} activity seems to have been unwearying. But, indeed, it must be granted that the city possesses more works than Cano could possibly have accomplished in a period of eight years. It has been usual to attribute to him every good piece of polychrome statuary in Granada. This is not surprising, for it is often impossible to distinguish with certainty between his work and that of his pupils Josef de Mora and Pedro de Mena, who imitated his style and made copies of many of his works. And the confusion is increased by the habit which Cano had of himself working on the carvings of his assistants; were they in difficulty, he would finish their work with his own hand. Thus it is impossible to pronounce with certainty as to the authorship of many of the reputed Canos in Granada.
Among the statues in the cathedral that are ascribed to Cano, and are certainly his work, we may place first the Purissima, which is kept in the sacristy. It is a small and very beautiful statuette which has the qualities that belong to Cano’s paintings. Even more interesting is the group of the Virgin and Child, with Santa Ana, also in the cathedral, where it is hidden in the gloom of a dark side-chapel. Quite unknown, this beautiful statue is almost certainly Cano’s work; it has{158} all the qualities that belong to his art. The Virgin, who is seated on the knee of Santa Ana, holds the Child Jesus. The figures are half life-size; the three faces and the hands are of exquisite delicacy. The Virgin resembles the Purissima in her sweetness. What a dainty fairness is here; with what exquisite taste the veil and the robe are arranged! The polychrome, too, is very beautiful, and fortunately it has not been restored. The Virgin wears a white tulle turban, which is black striped and gold fringed; her robe is light red, damasked in gold, and partly covered by a drapery of indigo blue, which is fastened with gold clasps at the shoulders and waist. Santa Ana’s robe is black, gold embroidered, while her cloak is a deeper shade of the same red-brown as the Virgin’s tunic.
In these two statues we see Cano’s power in expressing tender human emotions. It is the quality that marks his works—both his painting and his carvings—among the Spanish masters. His art never touches the passionate Conceptions of Ribera or Zurbaran in painting, or of Hernandez in sculpture: it is on a lower level than the ecstatic emotion of Murillo or the beautiful carvings of Monta?és. Cano is mild and touching; he neither excites nor thrills us. His Virgin is the happy{159} earthly Mother who takes sweet pleasure in her Child, not the Mater Dolorosa, suffering for the sorrows of her Divine Son. She has the fairness which he gives to all women. It was this understanding, so uncommon in Spanish art, whose object was “to persuade men to piety and to incline them to God,” of the joy of life with its human relationships, that was Cano’s special gift. He changed the dramatically serious religious compositions common to his country into scenes that speak charmingly of tender joyousness born of earthly love. To him alone, it would seem, it was given to find joy, and not sorrow, in the divine drama from which the Spanish artists drew their inspiration.
Other carvings in the cathedral that are ascribed to Cano, though his authorship in some of the pieces is disputed, are the colossal busts of Adam and Eve placed very high to the right and left of the entrance to the Capilla Mayor, and the heads of St. Paul and St. John the Baptist, which are hidden in the darkness of the Chapel of Nuestra Se?ora del Carmel. These carvings, and especially the bleeding heads of the saints, are subjects that do not properly belong to Cano’s art, but were undertaken by him to meet the popular taste of his{160} day, and for this reason they are of less interest. Yet their importance is great on account of the excellence of the polychrome. The Adam and Eve, larger than life-size, are carved in oak, and harmoniously coloured with excellent care. Unfortunately the height at which they are placed makes it very difficult to see them. The head of St. Paul and that of the Baptist—if this is Cano’s work, and the skill of the craftsmanship points to its being so—must be classed with the similar head of St. John the Baptist in the Church of Santa Paula, which is also ascribed to Cano. This last piece seems to have been copied from the head of the Prophet sculptured by Monta?és for the Church of Santa Clara. There is also a most excellent Head of St. John the Baptist in the Camarin of the Chapel of San Juan de Dios, which must certainly be Cano’s work (Plates 154-156). None but a master could have carved this head; it is the finest example in Spain of a polychrome of this subject. The livid face, which shows the death-marks, is surrounded with tumbled locks of black hair and a beard of the same colour. Both it and the bleeding neck are faithfully and splendidly rendered: there is beauty in the horror. The charger on which the head is placed is of gold, and{161} forms a sort of aureole around it. At the top an eagle has seized it in its beak to carry the relic to heaven; the bird is painted a deep warm black with beautiful reflections.
The cathedral has other works which it owes to the years of Cano’s residence. The beautiful frescoes of the Capilla Mayor, illustrating scenes from the life of the Virgin, were his work. The lower stage of the west fa?ade we owe largely to him. He designed and superintended the execution of two silver lamps for the principal chapel; he carved the elaborate lectern of the choir, formed of fine woods, bronze, and precious stones; and executed new portals for the sacristy. Two medallions on copper of great delicacy were wrought for the Chapel of the Trinity. Here the figures recall the Virgin in the group of Santa Ana and Virgin and Child. In addition several important pictures were painted for the dome of the Capilla Mayor, and others as altar-pieces for the chapels. Some of these canvases disappeared when Granada was stripped of so many of its treasures by the French. But a few fine pictures remain. The Trinity in the chapel of that name, the Way of the Cross in Nazareno Chapel, and the Virgen de la Soledad, which hangs over the altar of San Miguel, are the most important.{162}
This last-named painting is especially interesting to us, for there are two pieces of sculpture certainly copied from it, one in the parish church of Santa Ana, the other in the Church of Santa Paula. Both are excellent. The Virgin has the delicacy and beauty that we expect from Cano. The polychrome is subdued; the flesh of the face and the beautiful folded hands are a dull pallor, befitting grief; the eyes and the tears are formed by crystals, after the custom used by Gregorio Hernandez and Juan de Juni. The dress, which is white, and the mantle, of bluish black, are perfectly harmonious. These colours are a repetition of the cathedral picture. And the question arises, are the sculptures also by Cano? That of Santa Paula has always been ascribed to Josef de Mora. If we accept this, we must account the Soledad of Santa Ana as the work of ............