The Sculpture of Diego Siloe by Bernadine Bröcker Master of Letters Faculty of Arts University of Glasgow Christie's Education London September 2010 © Bernadine Bröcker A n exhibition proposAl
The Sculpture of Die go Siloe
by Bernadine BröckerMaster of Letters
Faculty of ArtsUniversity of Glasgow
Christie's EducationLondon
September 2010© Bernadine Bröcker
An exhibition proposAl
Table of ContentsI. Abstract
II. List of Illustrations
III. Essays
1. Introduction
2. Italy
3. Burgos
4. Diego
5. Granada
6. Conclusion
IV. Catalogue
V. Appendix
1. Timeline
2. Maps
3. Glossary
VI. Bibliography
VII. Acknowledgements
3
4
7
8
12
24
40
55
63
65
84
85
87
89
94
99
I. Abstract, 3The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Abstract
I
Diego Siloe, (c. 1495 –1563) known primarily for his architectural accomplishments
in Granada, trained initially as a sculptor of wood, alabaster, and stone. As a sculptor,
Diego developed a unique style, combining the knowledge from his travels and the more
old-fashioned skills from his hometown in Burgos, Spain. The son of famed tomb and
altarpiece sculptor Gil Siloe (d. 1505), Diego goes on to develop into his own identity as
a carver.
In 1519, after a phase of direct contact with the Italian Renaissance in Naples, Diego
Siloe came to Castile in central Spain with a new aesthetic and a humanist outlook, which
he combines with the existing Hispano-Flemish sculptural tradition in Burgos to create a
new hybrid Renaissance œuvre that is characteristically his, and will lead to his success
in Granada after 1528.
Limited literature on Diego Siloe exists, the bulk of which was primarily written in the
mid 20th century by Spanish art historian Manuel Gómez Moreno. Signif icant publica-
tions on this artist exist primarily in Spanish. The following essay and proposed exhibition
catalogue wish to f ill a niche previously unaddressed in the English language.
Word Count: 14,708
II. List of Illustrations, 4The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
List of Il lustrations
II
Figure 1 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez Saint Sebastian (1515-19) Marble, Chiesa San Giovanni Da Carbonara, Naples ©Gómez Moreno 1941
Figure 2 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez Carracioli Altarpiece (1515-19) Marble Chiesa San Giovanni Da Carbonara, Naples ©Gómez Moreno 1941
Figure 3 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez Saint John the Baptist (1515-19) Marble Chiesa San Giovanni Da Carbonara, Naples ©Gómez Moreno 1941
Figure 4 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez Dead Christ (1515-19) Marble Chiesa San Giovanni Da Carbonara, Naples ©Gómez Moreno 1941
Figure 5 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez Saint George and Dragon (1515-19) Marble Chiesa San Giovanni Da Carbonara, Naples ©Gómez Moreno 1941
Figure 6 Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi Saint George and the Dragon (1417) Marble, Orsanmichele, Florence, Italy. ©Orsanmichele website
Figure 7 Michelangelo Buonarotti Dying Slave (1513-1515) Carrara Marble, 131.2 in | 228 cm Musee du Louvre M.R. 1590 ©Louvre
Figure 8 Bartolomé Ordóñez Flagellation of Christ (1519) Marble, Choir Stalls, Barcelona Cathedral. ©B. Bröcker 2010
Figure 9 Michelangelo Buonarotti Sybil Libica (c. 1506) Fresco painting, Sistene Chapel, Vatican. ©Vatican
Figure 10 Bartolomé OrdóñezFortitude (c. 1519) carved wood, Choir Stalls, Barcelona Cathedral. © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 11 Bartolomé Ordóñez/Diego Siloe Ornamentation Detail (1519) Marble, Choir Stalls, Barcelona Cathedral © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 12 Gil de Siloe Portrait of Luis Acuña (c. 1486) alabaster and wood with paint and gilding, Tree of Jesse Altarpiece,Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 13 Diego Siloe Effig y of Luis Acuña (1519) alabaster Tomb of Luis Acuña, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 14 Diego Siloe Justice (1519) Stone, Tomb of Luis Acuña, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 15 Workshop of Gil Siloe Saint James the Lesser (c. 1500) alabaster| 29 in.|73.6 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 16.32.153 ©Metropolitan Museum of Art
Figure 16 Gil Siloe Detail of tomb of Juan II and Isabel of Portugal (c. 1483-1485) carved alabaster and stone. Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos ©unknown.
Figure 17 Gil de Siloe Tomb of Juan de Padilla (1500) stone, Burgos Diocesene Museum, Burgos ©B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 18 Gil Siloe Jesse (c. 1477) wood with painting and gilding Tree of Jesse Altarpiece, Burgos Cathedral ©B.Bröcker 2010
II. List of Illustrations, 5The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
II
Figure 19 Gil Siloe Madonna Enthroned (last third of 15th c) wood with painting and gilding. Burgos Provincial Museum, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 20 Alejo de Vahía Saint Onuphrius (c.1490-1500) wood with painting and gilding. Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid © Luis Marte/B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 21 Alejo de Vahía Virgin of the Milk upon a Crescent Moon (c. 1500) walnut with paint and gilding 51.2 in | 130 cm. Musee National du Louvre, RFR 4. ©Louvre
Figure 22 Gil Siloe Ecce homo detail (c. 1477) wood with paint and gilding Tree of Jesse Altarpiece, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 23 Felipe Bigarny Misericordia detail (1505) wood with traces of paint and gilding, Choir Stalls, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 24 Diego Siloe Escalera Dorada detail (1519-22) stone with paint and gilding, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 25 Diego Siloe Frieze with shield (1528) carved stone, Saint Jerome Monastery, Granada. © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 26 Felipe Bigarny, Diego Siloe. High Altar (1519-23) wood with paint and gilding. Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 27 Felipe Bigarny Synagogue (c.1522-1526) 62 in.|160 cm. wood with paint and gilding. Constablo Chapel, Burgos Cathedral. © Estella Marcos, Amigos Catedral de Burgos, 1995
Figure 28 Felipe Bigarny Church (c.1522-1526) 62 in.| 160 cm. wood with paint and gilding. High Altar, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral © Estella Marcos, Amigos Catedral de Burgos, 1995
Figure 29 Diego Siloe Escalera dorada (1519-22) Carved stone and wood, ironwork, with later gilding. Burgos Cathedral, Burgos. © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 30 Diego Siloe Fantastical scene (1519-1522) Carved stone. Escalera Dorada, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 31 Diego Siloe Winged dragon and scrolling finnial (1519-22) Carved stone. Escalera dorada, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 32 Diego Siloe Charity (1519) Carved stone. Luis Acuña tomb, Burgos Cathedral © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 33 Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi Madonna di Casa Pazzi (c.1420) Marble 29 x 27 in. | 74.5 x 69.5 cm Bödemuseum, Berlin inv. no. 41 © Antje Voigt, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Figure 34 Diego Siloe Virgin and Child (1519-21) Carved stone with traces of paint. Tomb of Diego Santander, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 35 Diego Siloe The Presentation in the Temple (towards 1523) Wood with paint and gilding. High Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos. ©B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 36 Diego Siloe Mary Magdalene (1519-1521) Wood with paint and gilding. Saint Anne Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos. © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 37 Felipe Bigarny Virgin and Child (1536-1542) Alabaster. National Museum of Sculpture Colegio San Gregorio, Valladolid. © Luis Marte/B.Bröcker 2010
II. List of Illustrations, 6The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
II
Figure 38 Diego Siloe Tomb of Saint Casilda (1524) Wood with paint and gilding. Saint Nicholas Church, Buezo. ©Iglesia San Nicolás
Figure 39 Gil Siloe Crucified Christ (c. 1490) wood, painted. Grand Altarpiece, Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos ©Turismo de Burgos.
Figure 40 Diego Siloe Christ held up by two angels (1520-23) wood with paint and gilding 52 x 42 x 20 cm. Saint Anne Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral. ©B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 41 Diego Siloe Saint Jerome (1521-23) Carved and painted wood. Saint Peter Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 42 Diego Siloe Saint John the Baptist (1525)Carved wood. Choir Stalls of Saint Benito, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. ©Luis Marte/B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 43 Alonso Berruguete Saint Michael (towards 1520) wood and alabaster with painting and gildingMuseo Nacional de Escultura, Colegio San Gregorio, Valladolid. © Luis Marte/B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 44 Diego Siloe Queen Isabel praying (1528) wood with paint and gilding. High Altar, Capilla Real, Granada. ©Gómez-Moreno, 1941
Figure 45 Gil Siloe Queen Isabel praying (1493) wood with paint and gilding. High Altar, Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos. ©Turismo de Burgos
Figure 46 Felipe Bigarny Queen Isabel praying (1510) wood with paint and gilding. Museum of the Capilla Real, Granada. © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 47 Diego Siloe Siloesque columns (1528-1704) Architectural detail. Granada Cathedral. ©B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 48 Diego Siloe Frieze and Arch Ornament Detail (1537)Carved stone. Puerta del Perdón, Granada Cathedral, Granada © B.Bröcker 2010
Figure 49 Diego Siloe A Penitent Saint Jerome (after 1528) Stone. Puerta de San Jerónimo, Granada Cathedral, Granada ©B.Bröcker 2010
Understanding the Sculpture of Die go Siloe
III
III. Essay, 7The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Introduction
1
In contrast to the Italian Renaissance, history books have failed to properly define the
Spanish Renaissance. However, there are key events that mark this period of transition from
the fifteenth- to the sixteenth-century in Spain. The unification of Spanish provinces, due
to the marriage of Queen Isabel of Castile (1451–1504) and King Ferdinand II of Aragon
(1452–1516), would prove to be a catalyst to a subsequent string of events: extremist Catholic
policies, the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, and wealth arriving from the Americas after the
Spanish throne invested in exploration. Meanwhile, consistent other powers existed in Europe:
the Hapsburg empire ruled the north of Europe and an avaricious and power-hungry Catholic
monopoly orchestrated the Italian city-states. The date 1500, considered by some at the time
as apocalyptic, actually bolstered prosperity for Spain. The term Renaissance, a retrospective
formulation focused on the light in Italy, in Spain still held on to the supposed darkness of the
Middle Ages. The insufficience of the “Renaissance” term in Spain causes argumentation
among scholars.1 For example, the dates considered Renaissance in Spain oscillate between
1480 and 1600. While a unique discussion takes place, regarding the Italian ideas of human-
ism, anthropocentrism, and the development of the art as an intellectual practice, Spain’s
trajectory held on to ‘medieval’ formulations beyond the Italianisms.
Art in Spain developed a style built upon the preexisting Spanish tendencies and the novel
ideas emerging in Italy. Estilo isabelino, the existing High Gothic style favoured by Spain’s
Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand, blossomed from the importation of foreign artisans (paint-
ers, sculptors), combined with existing Moorish and Jewish craft work (wooden ceilings, stone
tracery, immensely ornamented spaces). The estilo isabelino climaxed by 1500. The sixteenth-
1 Examples of these publications include: Checa, Fernando. Pintura y escultura del Renacimiento en España 1450-1600. (Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 1983); G.J. Geers. De Renaissance in Spanje: kultuur, literatuur, leven. (Zutphen: W. J. Thieme & co, 1932); María José Redondo Cantera, ed. El modelo italiano en las artes plásticas de la península Ibérica durante el Renacimiento. (Valladolid: Secretaria de Publicaciones e Intercambio Editorial Universidad de Valladolid, 2004), and Hans Wantoch. Spanien, das Land ohne Renaissance. (Munich: George Muller, 1927.)
III. Essay, 8The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
1 century transition towards a more Renaissance style arose from the advent of humanist ideas,
the increase of printing in vernacular Spanish, and the translations of ancient texts.
This change in Spanish art resulted in an acute assimilation of neoclassical forms, yet main-
tained a simplicity the Italian sources lacked. Often, these were valued depending on whether
they were worthy of the praise of masters like Michelangelo (Buonarotti, 1475–1564).2 And
as such, the artwork was not analysed with a consideration of Spanish taste in the sixteenth
century. The country indeed had an influx of foreign artisans and ideas from Italy and the rest
of Europe: foreigners like Juan de Colonia (Hans from Cologne, 1410–1481), Felipe Bigarny
(Phillip from Burgundy, c. 1475–1542), or Italian Domenico Fancelli (1469–1519). However,
various home-grown painters and sculptors existed as well: Diego Siloe (c. 1495–1563) and
Bartolomé Ordóñez (1480–1520), for example, made the time fascinatingly unique in their
own right.
The work by this Diego Siloe (also known as Diego de Siloé, Sylue, Syloee, Siloee) has vary-
ing degrees of renown. Diego’s main successes lie in the Andalucian city of Granada where he
held important commissions as one of the most well-known architects a la romana — in the
Italian manner. His style pleased the likes of bishops, aristocrats, towns-people, and even the
Hapsburg king of Spain at the time, Charles I (1500 – 1558). Hence, even contemporaries of
Diego Siloe compared his architectural work to the Italians across the Bay of Biscay.
Diego Siloe’s life goes many places besides Italy, though.3 He was born in Burgos as a son of
a well-known High Gothic sculptor named Gil Siloe (d. 1505). He then worked a well-paid job
in Burgos, as an apprentice of the aforementioned Felipe Bigarny. This sculptor, a foreigner a
generation older than Diego, was commissioned to carve the choir stalls in the Burgos Cathe-
dral at the time. Master Felipe might have especially employed Diego after the decease of Gil
Siloe around 1505, the likely reason why Diego was being paid so well as an assistant.4 Diego
2 Manuel Gómez Moreno, Águilas del Renacimiento Español: Bartolomé Ordóñez, Diego de Siloe, Pedro Machuca, Alonso Berruguete. (Madrid: C.S.I.C., Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1941), 5.
3 See map, Appendix 24 José Ignacio Hernandez Redondo, “Diego Siloe, aprendiz destacado en el taller de Felipe Bigarny.” Locus Amoenus. (2000-
2001): 105.
III. Essay, 9The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
1and master Felipe had a legal argument - or pleito - in 1509, which eventually led to Diego’s
leaving Burgos. From 1509 onwards nothing is heard of Diego, until in 1517 he was in Naples
in Italy. He worked at the Caracciolo Chapel in the San Giovanni a Carbonara Church with
fellow sculptor from Burgos, Bartolomé Ordóñez.
By early July 1519, Diego is back in Burgos. He signed the contract to carve the tomb of
Bishop Luis de Acuña y Osorio (d. 1495) in Chapel of the Visitation within the Burgos Ca-
thedral.5 Diego moved back into his father’s workshop on Calle de la Calera in Burgos.6 The
successful completion of the Acuña tomb provided Diego with commissions for many other
works in the Burgos Cathedral and surrounding areas, much like his father had done.7 Then,
by 1528, when Diego is well into his thirties, he received a great offer from a duke to move
to Granada. If one looks at only Diego’s accomplishments in Granada, his past as a simple
assistant sculptor turned master seems a trifle compared to his leadership of grand projects.
This study intends to define what of Diego from Burgos remained in master Siloe in Granada.
Diego Siloe and his contemporaries created a winning formula for Spain. They integrated
neoclassicist features from Italy into the existing ornamental High Gothic framework of the
estilo isabelino. For this, Siloe’s training before he arrives in Granada in 1528 is crucial. A
comparison of the works from Burgos, enveloped in the High Gothic, to Diego’s work in Italy
symbolises the balancing act of Spain in the early sixteenth-century. This artistic balance
defines an era when Hapsburg Spain was ruled by Charles I, also known as Emperor Charles
V, a Northerner who loved Spain. Granada shifted to be Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s
choice for the papal seat outside of Rome. Hence, this publication intends to characterise the
time through Diego Siloe, an artist considered a key player by Spaniards but about whom
little is written outside of Spain.
In an ideal study, analysing Diego’s clearly attributed work within the Iberian peninsula
5 Manuel Gómez Moreno. Diego Siloe: Homenaje en el IV centenario de su muerte. (Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1963), 46.
6 Miguel Ángel Zalama. “Diego y Juan de Siloe: un dato para su biografía.” Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología. Tomo 58 (1992): 376
7 For map and details on commissions in Burgos Cathedral, Appendix 3
III. Essay, 10The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
1would help us with the flighty attribution the Spanish Renaissance sculpture held outside
Spain. Museums and private collections around the world have sculptures from the early
Spanish sixteenth century, and with clear references, more is definitely left to be found and
attributed. For example, an altarpiece by Diego existed in Burgos, with a clear paper trail,
but presently with no knowledge of its whereabouts. After the destruction of the church of
San Román of Burgos the piece disappeared. Aurelio A Barrón García wrote an entire article
on this lost altarpiece in 2001.8 The commission of the piece is clearly documented, the old
altarpiece was stored away, and there are documents of where the silver, books, and a couple
of sculptures were moved, but nothing on the altarpiece. Here is at least one significant piece
of Diego Siloe’s before 1528 that remains to be discovered.
Furthermore, museums have or claimed to have works by Diego Siloe, and deserve a com-
prehensive chronology to identify Diego’s stylistic changes. This catalogue on Diego Siloe,
along with Isabel del Río’s catalogue on Felipe Bigarny, and María Gómez Moreno’s catalogue
on Bartolomé Ordóñez, both written in Spanish, manifest reference points for other pieces
to be understood.
These essays commence with an analysis of Diego’s time in Italy; and thus his direct encoun-
ter with the Italian Renaissance. Diego’s work in Naples in 1519 formed the foundation of his
long career a la romana. Chapters 3-4 ground the importance of Burgos in Diego’s œuvre, by
focusing on Diego’s roots in Castile. Chapter 3 analyses High Gothic works by Gil Siloe, Alejo
de Vahía, and master Felipe Bigarny that deeply resonate with Diego’s later work. Chapter
four focuses on the period from 1523 until 1528, Diego Siloe’s middle period when he receives
various individual commissions. Important stylistic developments in Diego’s artistry occur at
this time, and many of these piece have been recently restored.9 This middle period provides
a fascinating prelude to Diego’s architectural innovations after 1528, when in Granada, Diego
from Burgos turns into master Siloe.
8 Aurelio A. Barrón García. “Un retablo de Diego de Siloe para San Román de Burgos.” Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre Gil Siloe y la escultura de su época. (Burgos: Aldecoa, 2001.): 583-585
9 Restoration of Gil Siloe’s Jesse Altarpiece, the Cathedral of Granada? Works to restore the Constable Chapel were com-pleted in 1997, also raising funds for the publication of Estella Marcos’s publication La imaginería de los retablos de la Capilla del Condestable.
III. Essay, 11The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Italy
2
Although documentation that Diego Siloe and Bartolomé Ordóñez travelled to Rome and
Florence does not exist, there are many allusions, including quotes in their work, that imply
that they made a tour through Italy before receiving the commission for the altarpiece in the
Caracciolo di Vico Chapel in around 1515. (fig. 2) It is strongly believed that Ordóñez (and
thus, Diego) studied with Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570) in Florence at the Academia Pontania.10
Sansovino travelled through Spain right after 1500, and returned to live in Rome in 1506.11
Beyond the style of Sansovino himself, the important influences on Diego and Bartolomé were
the great masters the youths undoubtedly appreciated: Michelangelo’s massive figures, the
interesting compositions of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), the masterful carving techniques
of Donatello(1386–1466), and the unique architectural solutions of Bramante (1444 –1514).
Spaniards are often considered less academic because of their expressionistic styles and
the perseverance of their medieval guild systems. But, it is interesting to note that in his will
in 1563, Diego Siloe mentions that he would leave his sculpture tools to an assistant in his
workshop, and his drawings of “architecture and figures” to Juan de Maeda, his partner on
various projects.12 The artist valued his drawings at a different level beyond his own workshop.
None of Diego’s drawings exist today, but based on recurring motifs in Diego’s work we can
conclude he kept looking back at the same drawings, a Renaissance italian practice.
Diego and Bartolomé met the right people in Italy at the time. Their proposed contact
with Sansovino in Florence would have been the source for their commission of humanist
altarpiece for Caracciolo family. A young man training as an artist, Portuguese Francisco
10 Migliaccio, “Precisiones sobre la actividad de Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia y la recepción del Renacimiento italiano en la península Ibérica.” El Modelo Italiano en las Artes plásticas de la península Ibérica durante el Renacimiento. (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2004), 377
11 María Elena Gómez Moreno. Bartolomé Ordóñez. (Madrid: Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1956), 12.12 Manuel Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 63.
III. Essay, 12The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
2
de Holanda (c. 1517 – 1585) published his conversa-
tions with master Michelangelo in the 1530s with an
interesting outcome. When asked about art outside of
Italy, Michelangelo responded that “no nation or town
(except one or two Spaniards) can achieve or perfectly
imitate the Italian style, that is the manner of the an-
cient Greeks, that has not been known by any other
than Italians, despite how hard it’s been tried.”13 This
Italian egocentrism reiterates that if art does not reach
the standards of the ancients, it is no good. De Holanda
used these standards to record his own accounts of the
masters of art in 1548.14 This list included Ordóñez
and Siloe.15 The fact that a young man who absorbed
so many of Michelangelo’s thoughts mentions these two
Spaniards means that, in this author’s opinion, Diego
and Bartolomé were likely the “one or two Spaniards”
the master referred to.
The chapel in which the two Spaniards were work-
ing was designed with humanist principles - many of
the pieces allude to the ideas popularised at the time by
writers such as the poet Sannazzaro (1456 – 1530) who
also wrote the verses in the dedication of the chapel.16
The piece Diego and Bartolomé completed was called
13 Francisco de Holanda. Conversaciones con Miguel Ángel. (Buenos Aires: La Reja, 1956), 46.
14 Ronald W. Sousa “The View of the Artist in Francisco de Holanda’s ‘Dialogues’.” Luso-Brazilian Review 15 (1978): 44.
15 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 64.16 Migliaccio, “Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia”, 377.
III. Essay, 13The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 1 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé Ordóñez
Saint Sebastian (1515-19) Carrara Marble
Caracciolo Altarpiece, Chiesa San Giovanni a Carbonara,
Naples
III. Essay, 14The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 2 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé OrdóñezCarraciolo Altarpiece (1515-19)
Carrara MarbleChiesa San Giovanni a Carbonara, Naples
Wethey cAlled this piece the Altarpiece of the Epiphany. his grAyscAle photogrAph is ideAl to AppreciAte the subtle contrAsts of plAnes in the reliefs.
by art historian H. E. Wethey The Altar of the Epiphany.17 The central
panel of the Adoration of the Magi is flanked on either side by niches
with statues in-the-round of Saint John the Baptist (fig 3) and Saint
Sebast ian (fig 1); surmounted by a relief of the Ecce Homo and four
panels of the evangelists: two on the top and two in the predella. The
half-length panel of Christ sits in a classical frame, under a triangular
pediment and large acanthus scrolls, decorated further by a frieze of
triglyph and rosettes. It all follows strongly classic principles, implying
that the artists had acquainted themselves with these structures - but
they including a little hint of Spain in the eagles of the Aragon crest
included in the pedestals of the half-columns. The predella, beyond
the panels of the Evangelists, holds a panel of Saint George slaying
the Dragon, all over a tomb-like extension with a panel of the Dead
Christ (fig. 4).
Working with sculpture in Italy at the time was an interesting en-
deavour: artists all met each other despite the fact that Italy was still
separated into city-states, because everyone needed to travel to Car-
rara for white marble. A shipment of 93 carrate - carriages - of white
marble was shipped to Ordóñez in Naples on 17 august 1517, provid-
ing further proof that the Spaniards used only the best of the best for
this altarpiece, and had infiltrated the Italian standards.18 Ordóñez,
before his early death, is recorded to have returned to Italy and worked
in Carrara for many subsequent years creating pieces to be shipped
back to Spain.19
17 H.E. Wethey. “The early works of Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego de Siloe.” Art Bulletin 25. (1943): 228.
18 Ibid, 229, note 19.19 Manuel Gómez Moreno, Águilas del Renacimiento Español, 27.
2
III. Essay, 15The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 3 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé OrdóñezSaint John the Baptist
(1515-1519)Carrara Marble
Caracciolo altarpiece, Chiesa San Giovanni a
Carbonara, Naples
2
The Saint George and Dragon (fig. 5) from
the predella especially relates the Spaniards
to a panel by master Donatello (1386-1466)
for the Church of Orsanmichele in Florence
(fig. 6). Made to accompany a statue of Saint
George, Donatello’s panel was completed in
1417. Interestingly, the Spanish translation
in Naples is a reverse of the Florentine ver-
sion, with the princess on the left and the
dragon on the right, and the panel is longer than Donatello’s in proportion. The framing of
Saint George within the panel is the same, as is the Florentine technique of great contrast
between low relief carving - stiacciato - of the background and the almost three-dimensional
high relief of the Saint George. The Spaniards knew and practiced Florentine skills learned
first-hand or otherwise.
When imitating Italian standards, however, interesting differences demonstrate Diego and
Bartolomé’s Spanish origins. First of all, Saint George is the patron of the Spanish branch of
the house of Aragon.20 But visually as well, for example the princess, shown by Donatello in
classic contrapposto stance and holding her hands in prayer, is carved by the Spaniards kneel-
ing with a lamb by her side. The Spanish princess watches the scene but also parallels the
movements of Saint George on the horse, his lance, and his gaze. While the face in profile and
the lightness of her drapery follows the classical style, her pose hints towards a different, less
austere visual language comprehensive of the feminine character. The contrast between the
lamb and the dragon in the Spanish version makes an even more direct reference to moralistic
themes. Saint George, furthermore, is shown by Diego right before slaying the dragon – as op-
posed to Donatello’s depiction in media res, piercing the dragon with his spear. Diego’s marble
panel improved on the master’s original composition as the Donatello had less room for the
20 Migliaccio, “Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia”, 75.
III. Essay, 16The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 4 Diego Siloe/Bartolomé OrdóñezDead Christ (1515-19)
Carrara marble Caracciolo Altarpiece,
Chiesa San Giovanni a Carbonara, Naples, Italy
2
figures. The whole provides a more balanced dispersion of parts. St. George’s sword points to
the wound in the dragon and sets up compositional parallels with the horse’s face, the spear
in the dragon and the fighter’s helmet. Diego quoted directly from a Renaissance master, but
changed elements to suit his own needs, a practice he would keep repeating.
The gestures of both Diego and Bartolomé are visible; yet there is a clear difference in how
each handled the material. The Saint Sebast ian and the Dead Christ have been definitely
attributed to Diego, and the central panel of the Adoration is Bartolomé’s.21 Particularly Bar-
tolomé works with more complex compositions: crowds in a pyramidal composition similar
to the manner of Leonardo da Vinci, still alive at that time.22 Meanwhile Diego struggles
with his compositions, for example his Dead Christ appears to float. Diego works to tackle
a more intellectual, humanist agenda, as Migliaccio points out. “The naked and dead body
of Christ and the associations with the pagan sacrifice” that Diego enforces “foreshadow the
redemption and convivial spirit emphasized by humanist Neapolitans.”23 Humanist poetry in
Naples at the time referred to themes of redemption through the Eucharistic sacrifice, and of
the deification of man through his martyrdom. This more existential thought process works
well with Diego’s expressionistic carving, in for example the contrast between the serenity of
Christ’s face and the uncomfortable positioning of his arms.
21 Alberto C. Ibáñez Pérez, Payo Hernanz, and René Jesús. Del Gótico al Renacimiento. Artistas burgaleses entre 1450 y 1600. (Burgos: Cajacírculo, 2008.) 130.
22 Wethey, “The Early Works”, 230.23 Migliaccio, “Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia”, 74. translation: author’s own
III. Essay, 17The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 5 (above) Diego Siloe Saint George and the Dragon (c.1517)
Marble Caracciollo Altarpiece
San Giovanni a Carbonara, Naples fig. 6 (below) Donato di Niccolò di
Betto Bardi a.k.a. DonatelloSaint George and the Dragon (1417)
Marble Orsanmichele, Florence, Italy
2
The Saint Sebastian statue in the left niche of the al-
tarpiece (fig. 1) makes a reference to Michelangelo’s stat-
ue of the Dying Slave for the tomb of Julius II, carved
almost contemporarily with the piece by Siloe and Or-
dóñez. The pair are likely to have seen Michelangelo’s
Slave partilly carved in Carrara. The submissive at-
titude and wrought positioning of the body shows an
eye for contortions uniquely Florentine from the early
sixteenth century. The body’s contrapposto embodies
the balance between active and passive: the standing
versus the bent leg, the raised versus the resting arm.
The Caracciolo Saint Sebastian is carved by Diego, as
he was much more apt in sculpture in-the-round than
Ordóñez.
More proof that the sculpture is by Diego is a similar
statue of Carrara marble currently exhibited in Spain,
in the church of Barbadillo de Herreros near Burgos.
(cat. 1) The piece in Burgos makes an even more literal
allusion to the Dying Slave, with a similar tilt of the
head, the added raised right arm alongside the face,
and a tree trunk that curves similarly to Michelangelo’s
wave. That the sculpture in Burgos is more directly
quoted from Michelangelo, and is made of Italian stone,
suggests that it was an earlier version of the Saint for the
Caracciolo altarpiece, brought back to Burgos by Diego
as evidence of his skill and maybe a souvenir of his ab-
sorption of the Italian technique working in Carrara.
III. Essay, 18The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 7 Michelangelo BuonarottiDying Slave (1513-1515)
Carrara Marble131.2 in | 228 cm
Musée du Louvre M.R. 1590
2
A similar composition of the figure is used in the Flagellation of Christ in the Barcelona Ca-
thedral, attributed to Ordóñez but clearly influenced by Diego’s technique (fig. 8). Particularly
the hair style of the figure of Christ, with rings of curls framing the head and neck parallels
the Saint Sebastian in Barbadillo de Herreros, in the Caracciolo altarpiece, and other future
works by Diego (cat. 11 & 18, fig. 29).
It is unclear which Saint Sebastian came first, but the Barbadillo version is considerably
smaller than the Naples sculpture. Diego later made preliminary sculptures of his figures for
altarpieces, as can be seen in the Christ tied to the Column (cat. 12) or the Saint Jerome (cat. 9).
Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500 – 1571) recommended that every master must make
a small model with love and studiousness, to resolve all the artistic issues, and even Diego’s
father Gil Siloe made prior models to verify his compositions (cat. 2).
Beyond the Caracciolo altarpiece, the two Spaniards worked in Naples on the Madonna and
Child roundel of the San Giorgio Maggiore church, and in the tomb of Giovanni Tocco of the
Naples Cathedral.24 Ordóñez and Siloe executed, before 1519, the tomb of Andrea Bonifacio in
the Santos Severino and Sossio church of Naples, introducing “notable innovations, with the
24 Ibáñez et al, Del Gótico al Renacimiento, 130.
III. Essay, 19The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 8 Bartolomé OrdóñezFlagellation of Christ (1519)
Marble Choir Stalls, Barcelona Cathedral
2
composition and with the delicacy of their sculptures.”25
The aforementioned Flagellat ion in the Barcelona
Cathedral, when the two sculptors returned to Spain
after 1517, resulted from Ordóñez’s commission to com-
plete decorative panels for the choir stalls of the Bar-
celona Cathedral. Stylistic evidence hints Diego and
Bartolomé collaborated in the drawing up of the panels
for the choir stalls in early 1519, to be ready for Charles
V’s meeting of the Golden Fleece in March.26 Especially
the design of the grotesques and some of the figures
correlates to later work by Diego.
An interesting connection can be made between
some of the f igures of the Virtues in the stalls and
Florentine sources. It has been speculated that Bar-
tolomé and Diego must have owned drawings of the
Sybil Libica by Michelangelo, possibly inspiring Or-
dóñez’s figure of Fortitude carved in wood in Barcelo-
na, and the Virtues carved by Diego on the Luis Acuña
tomb in the Burgos Cathedral.27
Furthermore, Margarita Fernández, who wrote her
thesis in Madrid on the grotesques - carved decorative
elements - of Diego Siloe, mentions certain key features
that prove Diego put in a hand with the ornamentation
25 Migliaccio, “Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia”, 379. translation: author’s own
26 Gómez Moreno, Las águilas del Renacimiento español , 27.27 Wethey, “The Early Works”, 235.
III. Essay, 20The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 9 above: Michelangelo BuonarottiSybil Libica (c. 1506)
Sistene Chapel, Vatican
fig. 10 below: Bartolomé OrdóñezFortitude (c. 1519)
Choir Stalls, Barcelona Cathedral
2
in Barcelona.28 Fernández based much of her study on the Escalera Dorada (fig. 29, analysed
in Chapter 4), with its interesting curves, vegetable forms, and the long, s-shaped necks of the
fantastical beasts. The ornamentation of the marble frames of the Barcelona choir stalls (fig.
11) include figures that correlate to grotesques that will
reappear in Diego Siloe’s work.
After 1519, Ordóñez and Siloe part ways, and Di-
ego returns to Burgos. These great travels bring a
very different Diego Siloe back to his hometown. Art
historians like Gómez Moreno focus on Diego’s first
documented commission on his return in Burgos, the
tomb of Luis Acuña. The bishop passed away in 1495
asking for a very simple tomb in the Chapel of the
Visitation of the Burgos Cathedral.29 In contrast to
the simplicity Acuña requested, the tomb was prede-
termined in the contract by the church to be quite
large and includes a frieze of the Seven Virtues and a
Sybil, as well as an effigy of the deceased, and is quite
high off the ground. The contract stipulates that Diego
must work a la romana - in the Roman style - which shows that he returns to a market that is
seeking the style he has just absorbed in Naples and elsewhere.
The tomb’s shape, the scrolling acanthus of its corners (fig. 14) and its concave panels of
the frieze follows the trend of the tomb of Sixtus IV by Antonio Pollaioulo (1433-1498) in the
Vatican.30 However, the Spanish tombs served as a type of memento mori; farther from the
28 Margarita Fernández. Los grutescos en la arquitectura española del Protorrenacimiento. (Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana, 1987), 198.
29 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 43.30 Gómez-Moreno, Las Águilas del Renacimiento Español, 44.
III. Essay, 21The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 11 Bartolomé Ordóñez/Diego SiloeBarcelona Cathedral Choir stall exterior (detail)
Barcelona Cathedral, Burgos
2
pagan roots of Italian tombs, imbuing the spectator
with empathy to pray for the deceased.31 This religiosity
implies that often the tombs included an effigy of the
deceased.32 The price accorded by Diego and patron in
this case was 200 ducats; much lower than usual for a
tomb of this size and with elaborate decoration.33 It has
been speculated that the quality of some of the carving
suggests work by a workshop of Diego rather than the
artist himself; a commission for which he earned much
more money would guarantee more personal effort put
in by the artist.34
As Bishop Acuña passed away in 1495, this author
would not so quickly believe that quality of stagnant
portrait effigy, Diego’s first commission in Burgos, is
an apprentice’s work. (fig. 13) Rather, Diego probably
based his carving upon a wooden portrait sculpture of
Acuña made by his father Gil in this same chapel. (fig.
12) Even the manner in which Acuña’s hands are held
in prayer and the way the cloak falls in a heart-shaped
fold around his neck is reminiscent of Gil Siloe’s portrait
of Acuña in the Tree of Jesse Altarpiece. This relation-
ship with the existing artwork in Burgos leaves many
interesting links to be discovered, as we have seen how
31 María José Redondo Cantera. El sepulcro en España en el siglo XVI: tipología e iconograf ía. (Madrid: Centro Nacional de Informacion y Documentación de Patrimonio Histórico, 1987), 16.
32 Fernando Araujo. Historia de la escultura en España de principios del siglo XVI hasta f ines del XVIII y causas de su decadencia. (Valencia : Librerías París-Valencia: 1992), 35.
33 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 45.34 Zalama, “Diego y Juan”, 376.
III. Essay, 22The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 12 Gil SiloePortrait of Luis Acuña (c. 1486)
Alabaster with paint and gildingTree of Jesse Altarpiece,
Burgos Cathedral, BurgosA detAil shoWing A portrAit of the donor, bishop luis AcuñA,
prAying before the AltArpiece With recognizAble members of his clergy
fig. 13 Diego SiloeEffig y of Luis Acuña (1519)
AlabasterTomb of Luis Acuña
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
2
Diego absorbed Florentine, Neapolitan, and Roman ideas. The young Diego, with his Italian
ideals and stars in his eyes, signed contracts promising to bring the Roman style to Burgos.
But, the inspiration he also sought within the Castilian city is of greater importance than
previously acknowledged.
III. Essay, 23The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 14 Diego SiloeJustice (1519)
StoneTomb of Luis Acuña
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
3
In the fifteenth century, Burgos thrived due to trade and
the royal court. Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand often
spent time there, and much commerce followed. Foreign
artisans, finding fewer commissions in the northern Euro-
pean lands, travelled south to the Iberian peninsula and
the dry lands of central Spain: Burgos. Spaniards imported
foreign art and artists.35 Fewer commissions in the North-
ern lands,36most likely due to Flanders and Brabant being
the most densely populated in Europe.37 The main import
was the art and customs of the Flemish, Burgundian court.
Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand married their children
with the grandchildren and heirs of Charles the Bold (1433-
1477, the last duke of Burgundy but also a son of Castile), of
Margaret of Austria (1480 - 1530) and of Philip the Good
(1396-1467). Burgundian piety and political power attracted
the characters of the Spanish court. For example, one of
the first documented Northern artists in Burgos is Juan de
Colonia, who may have met bishop Alfonso de Cartagena
(1384—1456) when he visited the Council of Basle - in the
north - in 1434.38 A half a century later, the Colonia family
35 For more information on imported Flemish artworks and their influence on Spanish art, see exhibition catalogue: Francesc Ruiz Quesada. La pintura gótica hispanof lamenca: Bartolomé Bermejo y su época. (Barcelona, Bilbao: Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2003).
36 Isabel del Río, El escultor Felipe Bigarny 1491-1542. (Valladolid: Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 2001), 23
37 Alain Arnould and Jean Michel Massing. Splendours of Flanders. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, The Fitzwilliam Museum, 1993), 6.
38 Beatrice Gilman Proske, Castilian Sculpture: Gothic to Renaissance. (New York:
Burgos
III. Essay, 24The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Fig. 15 Workshop of Gil SiloeSaint James the Lesser (c. 1500)
alabaster 29 in | 73.6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York 16.32.153
3
was working on every structure in Burgos - and their style was seen as Spanish.
The High Gothic style comprised of tall, elongated forms and arches, and influences from
nature taken to new levels in playful tracery. The “estilo isabel is no misnomer for this exultant
style, for it was at her order that [...] In the fine arts as in other fields, the Queen struck out
on a new path of personal leadership, the Queen felt that nothing was too fine for the religion
that she spent her life militantly advancing,” scholar Beatrice Proske mentions in her analysis
of Castilian art and sculpture.39 During this period, the military tactic was often intimidation
by means of lavish spending on fairs and festivities, giving the impression that the kingdom
had vaster funds to spend on military pursuits.40 The Catholic Kings were looking for strength
in exuberance, and the riches arriving from the New World at the time helped them in their
vision of furthering God’s plan.
Piety in Catholic Spain was vinculed with a sense of purpose. The Castilian nobility had
not yet acquired the taste for collecting for aesthetic pleasure so common in the studiolos of
Italy or the wunderkammers of Northern Europe at the time. Spanish nobility and court figures
inherited Arabic traditions, decorating their homes with abstracted carved and gilded surfaces
or beautiful tiles rather than a fountain or a portrait bust, reserving some walls for the hang-
ing of Flemish tapestries or a devotional picture. Decorating a space was also seen as a the
work of many individuals rather than a specific master: ensambladores, trazadores, estofadores,
doradores, talladores, aparejadores. Sculptors, known in Castile as imaginarios, served the noble
and parochial authorities by carving tombs, altarpieces or decorative friezes on buildings.41
Their work, usually of wood or alabaster and then painted in realistic colours, stood in spaces
created by masterful stonemasons and under beautiful geometric ceilings of wood in the Arab
tradition. This combination created an environment that was completely Spanish, unlike the
High Gothic in any other area despite wishes to imitate the North.
Hispanic Society of America, 1951), 9.39 Ibid, 2.40 Del Rio, Felipe Bigarny, 23.41 Proske, Castilian Sculpture, 5.
III. Essay, 25The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
A great example of this collaboration, made up of various layers, and a feast for the pious eye, is
the Cathedral of Burgos, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The thirteenth-century Gothic structure
of the cathedral holds interiors built up over time. These combine works from different master
imaginarios, stonemasons, glass workers, and ironworkers. The end result gleams in a type of tex-
tural indulgence one could call plateresque. The contrast between the miles of Castilian farmland
and arid hills to a cathedral with such abundance still makes an extraordinary impact at present
day. Within this Castilian tradition lie the roots of Diego Siloe’s early life.
Diego’s father, Gil Siloe was a very well-known carver, employed by the Catholic Kings for
the tombs of their family members and top esquires. One of Gil’s famous tombs, in the monastic
convent Cartuja de Miraflores, right outside of Burgos, was commissioned for Juan II of Castile
(1405-1454) and Isabel of Portugal (1428-1496) in 1486 by Queen Isabel herself.42 From the success
42 Joaquín Yarza Luaces. Gil Siloe: El Retablo de la Concepción en la capilla del obispo Acuña. (Burgos: Catedral de Burgos, 2000), 28.
III. Essay, 26The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 16 Gil Siloe Tomb of Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal detail (1486). Carved alabaster and stone. Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos.
with this tomb, Gil received commissions to complete the main altarpiece of Miraflores, the
Infante Alonso tomb, and also the tomb of Juan de Padilla. The latter is now housed in the
Burgos Provincial Museum, (fig. 17) with certain pieces kept in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York (fig. 15) and the Boston Museum of Fine Art. The piece was originally
made for the Jerónimos de Fresdeval Monastery.43 The Padilla tomb is playful yet mystical,
like most of Gil’s work.
Gil’s style evidences clear influences from the French and Burgundian Gothic through his
use of openwork tracery in the background, with a large central figure surrounded by smaller
complementary narratives. His altarpiece design is religious but courtly. Entertainment and
stories were as important to one’s reputation as piety. The tomb for Juan and Isabel’s lavish
textures and laborious details fit appropriately for royalty. (fig. 16) This lavishness is comple-
mented by playful iconography, such as a lion playing with a dog, a joyful little angel at the
feet of Isabel’s effigy, or the embracing lions that seem to smile at the viewer from the feet of
Juan. All the while of course, the completeness of the piece gives one the feeling the eye can-
not rest in one particular place.
Gil’s use of dynamic poses varies from scene to scene but often seem to sway, as the Saint
James the Lesser from the Metropolitan Museum. Anatomically they are not completely cor-
rect, particularly in their lack of forearms, possibly done for viewing comfort rather than true
ignorance. Furthermore, Gil’s figures tend to have round heads, long and fine fingers, heavy
eyelids, big noses, with high foreheads and loose braids for the females and stouter faces and
blocky, strong curls for the males. He works both in wood and alabaster. Especially the folds
of the drapery change depending on the medium (flowier in alabaster, rectilinear in wood.)
In a book from 1921, Gil is described as a converted Jew from Nüremberg, brought to Bur-
gos by the “wise” Bishop Cartagena who also brought back Juan de Colonia, and as a master
43 Juan José Martinez Burgos, El escultor en el siglo de oro. (Madrid : Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 1985), 108.
3
III. Essay, 27The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
III. Essay, 28The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 17 Gil de SiloeTomb of Juan de Padilla (1500)
Stone Museo Provincial, Burgos
3
whose school arrives to Granada by means of his son Diego.44 The documentation that led to
these specific conclusions is not completely clear, but Gil Siloe’s work does ring true with this
description despite faulty citations. Bishop Cartagena was a converted Jew, and his influence on
the art in the Burgos Cathedral, as well as the art-
ists imported to work there, has been documented.
45 Gil Siloe is also known to have settled in Spain
and married locally, to a woman from Burgos with
whom he had four children: two daughters, Ana
and María, and two sons, Juan and our Diego.46
Gil’s origins are unclear. He is mentioned by Simón
de Colonia in 1501 as “Gil de Enberres” (Gil from
Antwerp) when working on San Pablo in Valladol-
id.47 Then, in a document on 1 April 1494 for the altarpiece of the Church of San Esteban,
he is mentioned next to Diego de la Cruz as ‘Gil de Urliones,” (from Orleans) pointing to a
more French origin.48 Regardless of the ambiguity of his roots and the lack of clear documen-
tation of his origins, Gil’s creativity formulated new motifs, leaving the mystery of his origins
to whisper as undertones to his new, strong personal, High Gothic style.
Gil’s first known commissioned work, the Tree of Jesse Altarpiece, was completed for the
Chapel of the Visitation. This chapel was originally founded by Alonso de Cartagena and
transformed into Bishop Luis Acuña’s funerary chapel (where Gil’s son Diego would work
years later.) The Tree of Jesse altarpiece beautifully portrays the doctrine of the Immaculate
44 Catálogo general de la exposición de arte restrospectivo, VII centenario de la cátedral de Burgos. (Burgos: El Monte Carmelo, 1921), 5. Entry #263 ‘Figurita precedente de un retablo gótico de Gil de Siloe, talla en madera policromada, fines del siglo XV.’
45 Luis Fernández Gallardo. Alonso de Cartagena: Iglesia Política y cultura en la Castilla del Siglo XV. (Madrid: Department of Medieval History of Universidad Complutense, 1998), 26.
46 Wethey, The Early Works, 227.47 F. Arribas, “Simon de Colonia en Valladolid.” Boletín Seminario Arte y Arqueología Universidad Valladolid. Valladolid:
1934.)157. Quoted in Yarza Luaces, Gil Siloe: El Retablo, 31, note 41. 48 Ibid, 35. The only problem with this document is finding an altarpiece in San Esteban that stylistically correlates to the
work of Diego de la Cruz and Gil Siloe.
III. Essay, 29The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Fig. 18 Gil SiloeJesse (c. 1477)
wood with painting and gildingTree of Jesse Altarpiece, Burgos Cathedral
3
Conception, a topic highly debated at the time.49 In Gil’s visualisation of this topic, the pan-
els centre around the Jesse (fig. 18) , an unimportant figure in the Bible but important when
considering the lineage of the Virgin Mary and mentioned by Winifredus of Aquileia at the
end of the eighth century.50 Above Jesse is the embrace of Joachim and Anne before the Golden
Door, the parents of Mary, and grandparents of Christ who were visited by angels according
to apocryphal texts. Many other scenes flank this one; the singularity of the piece lies in the
fact that the scenes work together beyond narrative to explain an entire concept, of the dei-
fication of the Virgin Mary and the usage of both sacred and apocryphal texts to prove his
point - using documentation as the humanists did in Italy.
Gil uses of the figure of Synagogue to symbolise the old texts and Church to symbolise the new
beliefs (something that his son Diego and Felipe Bigarny would copy in later years.)51 Figures
are either clothed and saintly or ‘wild men’ living in the wilderness and boasting long locks,
as one can see by comparing the figure of the Madonna and Child by Gil Siloe (fig 19) and the
figure of Saint Oniphrus by Alejo de Vahía (d. 1515), a contemporary sculptor and follower of
Gil’s techniques (fig 20).
On the technical side, Gil’s panels innovate with unique assemblage of parts made in a
workshop — the usual practice at the time for artists completing altarpieces — as well as pieces
that are practically attached to the wall, carved in situ.52 The piece and Gil’s iconography, in a
central chapel flanking the nave of the Burgos Cathedral, influenced many subsequent imagi-
narios, including Gil’s son, Diego, as we shall see when analysing Diego’s work in later years.
Gil Siloe’s carving style, best appreciated in the Tree of Jesse altarpiece, his tombs and enor-
mous altarpiece in the Cartuja de Miraflores, and the doorway to the Colegio San Gregorio in
49 Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, British edition, 2000. sub verbo. “Conception of the Virgin Mary.” The doctrine was confirmed by the church at the Council of Basil in September 1439 and retracted shortly afterwards and various different parishes either celebrated the doctrine or not depending on their religious or political affiliations.
50 Mirella Levi D’Ancona, The iconography of the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, (New York 1957), 7. Quoted in Yarza Luaces, Gil Siloe: El Retablo, 77.
51 Yarza Luaces, Gil Siloe: El Retablo, 28.52 Ibid, 30.
III. Essay, 30The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
3
Valladolid. The strong characters, usually quite frontal,
are defined by the details the chisel decides to accen-
tuate, from the flowing locks and righteous corset of
Gil’s Madonna and Child and the evident wear of Saint
Oniphrus’s knees and bare feet. Alejo de Vahía was an
artist with a very distinctive style, a practice upheld
by conventions. His work is also unique in that many
pieces are singular, being separated from their original
altarpieces whereas Gil’s work, besides the Saints in the
New York and Boston museums, tends to remain in its
original place. The Saint Oniphrus from the Valladolid
Museum, employs the conventions for depicting a her-
mit saint in the desert, used by Gil Siloe in the door of
the School of Saint Gregory in Valladolid, and Saint
Mary of Eg ypt (cat no. 3) from the Saint Anne altar-
piece he never completed in the Constable Chapel of
the Burgos Cathedral. This Saint Mary of Eg ypt, a saint
who spent time repenting in the desert, has the same
curly hair used for hermits and wild men - covering the
nudity but expressing the desperate living conditions in
a mannered, respectable way.
The human figures of the Castilian High Gothic fol-
low repetitive motifs. The parting of the hair, the curls
around the face, the drooping of the eyelids and the
static lines of the lips are just a few. The drapery is cut
in very straight strokes, following the tradition of the
III. Essay, 31The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Fig. 20 Alejo de VahíaSaint Onuphrius (c.1500)
Carved wood with paint Museo Nacional de Escultura,
Colegio San Gregorio Valladolid (bought from the Art mArket in 1998)
Fig. 19 Gil SiloeMadonna Enthroned (last third of
15th century)Burgos Provincial Museum, Burgos originAlly in the Arch of st. mAry
in burgos
3
Lower Rhine.53 In the work of Alejo de Vahía a certain
fluidity starts to be seen that suggests the movement
towards different stylistic conventions in the sixteenth
century.
Examining Vahía’s Virgin of the Milk upon a Cres-
cent Moon from the Louvre, (fig. 21) many this flow-
ing drapery is apparent. The figure stands resting on
one leg, with the drapery falling in regular folds from
the waist. In Vahía’s work drapery often falls in trap-
ezoidal patterns, while in Gil’s the folds can be more
angular. The arms tend to be anatomically incorrect,
particularly as they don’t have forearms. The hair falls
eerily symmetrically, adding to the divinity of the holy
faces. The figure has a sweet face, the folds around her
lap fall in angular forms like the folds of the Madonna
Enthroned from the arch of Saint Mary or the Saint
Mary of Egypt.
The Altarpiece of the Female Saints, or Saint Anne
Altarpiece that Gil Siloe never completed would be
picked up by Diego Siloe in 1521, twenty years after his
father’s death around 1505, working with these sweet
faces, High Gothic conventions, and angular drapery
in his own style, discussed later in this chapter.
53 Ibid, 18
III. Essay, 32The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 21 Alejo de VahíaVirgin of the Milk upon a Crescent Moon
(c. 1500)Wood with paint and gilding
51.2 in | 130 cm.Musee National du Louvre, RFR 4
3
***
Recent studies and discoveries have helped us formulate the relationship between Diego
Siloe and Felipe Bigarny, a generation younger than Gil Siloe. Diego and Felipe collaborated
at various points in their lives. According to José Ignacio Hernandez Redondo, Diego Siloe
was already working as an apprentice to Felipe Bigarny when preparing the choir stalls for the
Burgos Cathedral, that is to say in 1505, near or exactly after the believed date of the death
of Gil Siloe. Hernandez states:
“This means that [Diego] Siloe officially enters the Bigarny workshop in the beginning
of 1505, the year that works on the choir stalls begin, or perhaps at the end of the previous
year. Due to this approximation of his entry into the workshop, in my opinion his birth
date must be nearer to 1487 and not after 1490. The work he did for Bigarny required
previous experience, it doesn’t seem right to think he was younger than fifteen when the
collaboration began, an age that is also more likely for a person to register as an apprentice.
In this way, his letter in 1547 to the Duke of Sesa in which he states he is an old man is
more comprehensible, as he had worked for him since he arrived in Granada, as he would
have been near to sixty years old.” 54
Written in 2001 this article illustrates a very different perspective on all of the research on
Diego Siloe up until this point, by great historians like Manuel Gómez Moreno.55 Writings
had speculated about Diego training in Gil Siloe’s workshop before appearing in Naples, but
this implies a much deeper understanding of the art, and maturity of age, before going to Italy
and working with Ordóñez in the Caracciolo funerary chapel. (Chapter 2)
54 José Ignacio Hernandez Redondo. “Diego Siloe, aprendiz destacado en el taller de Felipe Bigarny.” Locus Amoenus. (Valladolid: Museo Nacional de Escultura, 2001), 104. Translation: author’s own.
55 Manuel Gómez Moreno, Diego de Siloe, 15.
In Diego Siloe, Gómez Moreno speculated that though Diego was evidently working for Felipe Bigarny, the connection was most likely more though Andrés Najera. Documented as Andrés de San Juan in 1504, ‘a wise imaginario, and Bigarny’s as-sociate in the choir stalls.’ He and Diego de la Cruz were probably those who were more busy with Diego Siloe’s well-being as they were Gil’s friends and collaborators, and hence Bigarny’s disdain for the work of Diego in the pleito of 1509 is not surprising.
III. Essay, 33The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
3
Bigarny was an interesting master for Diego Siloe to have followed in a workshop. As a
northerner in Spain, his roots were similar to Vahía or Gil Siloe, but his work is quite dif-
ferent. He became an intellectual not through High Gothic narratives, but via a more intel-
lectual approach to proportion. Biographer Isabel del Río believes that Bigarny knew Latin,
as he sometimes signed his work in the ancient language.56 The progressive italianisation of
Hapsburg Spain included the publication in 1526 in Toledo of “Measurements from Rome”
by Diego de Sagredo (1490-1528), attesting a Hispanic cult to Michelangelo.57 In this book,
Sagredo mentions that although Vitruvius and Gaurico had certain ideas about proportions
of the human body, the man who really dominated proportional values was Felipe de Borgoña
(Felipe Bigarny) with the theory that the figure measures 9 1/3 heads.58
The figure of Saint Catherine from Alexandria (cat no. 4) from the altarpiece at the Univer-
sity of Salamanca in 1505 exemplifies Bigarny’s developing style. He picked up on different
principles than Gil Siloe. Despite the continuing interest in the iconography of the saint and
her idyllic, slightly static facial features, the sculpture is more massive, thought of in a three-
dimensional manner. The head no longer feels like a massive bobble upon a body, and inte-
grates with the totality of the anatomy. Furthermore, the drapery falls around the figure in a
way that resembles more closely the Grecian and Roman tradition. As Diego was proven to
have studied under Felipe, this provides a clear reference for his different corporeal aesthetic
to his father, evident in many details of Diego’s work.
On the choir stalls of the Burgos Cathedral that Diego Siloe assisted Bigarny on, rotund,
winged angels with an italianate feel carved to flank the ‘misericordia’ - the little stand used
to relieve the pious when standing through long hours of mass. (Fig. 16) These figures have a
completely different feel than for example the angels from twenty years prior below the Man
of Sorrows by Gil Siloe in the Tree of Jesse Altarpiece. (Fig. 23) High Gothic Gil carves an-
56 del Rio, Felipe Bigarny, 12.57 Luis Marques, “Una Paradoja Sobre las Relaciones Entre Italia y España en el Renacimiento” El modelo italiano en la artes
plásticas de la peninsula Ibérica durante el Renacimiento. (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2004), 92.58 More on the Vitruvian versus. Felipe proportions in: del Rio, Felipe Birgarny, 186. And in: Gómez Moreno Diego Siloe, 64.
III. Essay, 34The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
gels with elongated bodies, no apparent focus on the
anatomy of the figures beyond their uneven kneeling
pose and the placement of the arms holding the ladder
and tools of the Passion. The angels function as a frame
to the central figure, one looking up at the wound and
the other at the feet of Christ.
On the other hand, the angels on the Bigarny choir
stalls are situated around the misericordia (with its
Gothic petal-shaped moulding) in very specific propor-
tions for the space. That is to say, the composition relies
strongly on the space into which the figures have been
placed. Furthermore, the angels are no longer clothed,
carrying cloth rather than wearing it. A less deep relief
into the dark wood of the stalls leaves a bit of mystery
around the movement of the angels. The gaze of the
angels faces out, towards the viewer, leaving behind the
extremely pious concentration of Gil’s angels.
These two artistic formulae precede Diego in Burgos
and evidently affect the younger artist’s designs. The
Escalera Dorada, from 1519-1521, for the secondary en-
trance to the nave of the Cathedral, includes similar
cherubs to those he might have helped Bigarny carve
on the choir stalls. Over the arches he places two angels
in the same stance as those in Gil and Felipe’s work,
with one bent leg and the other extended, as if creating
a triangular composition. Unlike Felipe he does not
use the shape to fill an empty area, but rather creates
3
III. Essay, 35The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 22 Gil Siloe detail from Ecce homo(c. 1477)Wood with paint and gilding
Tree of Jesse Altarpiece,Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
fig. 23 Felipe Bigarnydetail from Misericordia (1505)
Wood with traces of paint and gilding Choir Stalls,
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
fig. 24 Diego Siloe detail from Escalera Dorada(1519-22)
stone with paint and gilding Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
fig. 25 Diego Siloe Frieze with shield (1528)
carved stoneSaint Jerome Monastery, Granada
3
new empty spaces with the placement of the figures, serving as a type of classical pediment,
an intelligently playful design.
Diego carved his angels in high relief, but the other carvings surrounding the angels are
stiacciatto - once again utilizing the Florentine bravura. The angels are unclothed, as Bigarny’s,
but in this case they are even more exposed, as the bent leg does not even cover the sexes of
the angels. This italianate comfort with nudity stems from classical sources rather than those
of the Gothic or Middle Ages.
Within an even later design of Diego’s in Granada in 1528, two figures holding an emblem
in the Monastery of Saint Jerome stand in a very similar position once again. This frieze, often
praised for its masterful monumentality, now seems to have sources from a simple wooden
panel. The figures are clothed, and anatomically more proportional than the putti or the an-
gels, but they serve the same purpose, as a type of pediment, now broken, surmounting the
classic denture frieze of the building.
As mentioned earlier, Diego continues the Saint Anne Altarpiece that Gil did not complete
after his death. This piece, in the Constable Chapel of the Burgos Cathedral, starts a very
interesting series that Diego would carve with Felipe Birgarny. The successful completion of
the Saint Anne Altarpiece in 1522 leads to the commission of the Saint Peter Altarpiece on
the opposite side of the chapel, and finally the High Altarpiece, completed and painted by
1526 (fig. 26).
The Saint Anne altarpiece started by Gil Siloe includes a depiction of all female saints,
one of which is the Saint Mary of Egypt mentioned earlier. (cat. 3) A central panel added by
Diego Siloe, of Christ held by two Angels is a bit of a segway from his father’s original plan, but
otherwise Diego continues with the idea of the Retablo de las Santas. The piece is probably cur-
rently called the Saint Anne Altarpiece rather than the Altarpiece of the Female Saints because
III. Essay, 36The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
III. Essay, 37The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 26 Felipe Bigarny, Diego Siloe View of High Altar (1519-23)
Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
3
of a stunning image by Gil of Saint Anne holding the Virgin and Child.59 Diego’s Italianism
is apparent in the Christ Held by Two Angels, reminiscent of Donatello’s three-quarter length
bronze relief for the Saint Padua Basilica in 1446, according to Margarita Estella Marcos, the
scholar who analysed each wooden sculpture from the Constable Chapel. 60
A document of commissions from 1523-1535 in the Constable Chapel in the Burgos Cathe-
dral permits us to draw conclusions about the collaborations, for example between Diego Siloe
and Felipe Bigarny on the Saint Peter Altarpiece and the High Altar.61 A sculpture by each
artist has a specific character, in comparison to Bigarny in the altarpieces of the Constable
Chapel, Manuel Gómez Moreno describes Diego’s pieces as having a “more serene majesty,
and beauty of the faces, softness of the moulding, and composure of attitudes, and, as a defect,
squat proportions.”62 Both artists have shown their italianate styles in previous commissions,
but still produce very different works.
The High Altar, also known as The Presentation Altarpiece has greater proportions than the
Saint Anne and Saint Peter pieces. The Saint Anne Altarpiece rests on the structural founda-
tions set by Gil Siloe, but Diego creates original sculptures like a beautiful rendition of Mary
Magdalene (fig. 36) and Christ Held by two Angels (fig. 40). The Saint Peter Altarpiece follows
the same structure as the Saint Anne altarpiece, but here Diego works with Master Felipe.
The High Altar enjoys greater proportions taking influence from the currents in Granada at
the time, as Bigarny had recently been working on the High Altar for the Capilla Real.63 The
Capilla Real included works by Italians like Domenico Fancelli and Jacopo Fiorentino (1476-
59 Margarita Estella Marcos. La imaginería de los retablos de la Capilla del Condestable. (Burgos: Cabildo Metropolitano, Asociación de Amigos de la Catedral, 1995), 56.
60 Estella Marcos, Retablos de la Capilla del Condestable, 78. Quoting image from Poeschke, Joachim. Die Skulptur der Renaissance in Italien. Band I Donatello und seine Zeit . Aufnahmen Alber Hirmet un Irmgard Erns-Hirmer. (Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 1990-1992). figure 123
61 Checa, Pintura y Escultura 168. Note 115:
Fra. Carlos Villacampa, “La capilla del Condestable, de la Catedral de Burgos. Documentos para su historia” A.E.A.A. Burgos, 1928. . 25-44; also see D. Martínez Abelenda, “La escultura en la capilla del Condestable, en la Catedral de Burgos” Boletín de la Institución Fernán González, Burgos, 1956. . 59 and subsequent.
62 Gómez Moreno, Diego de Siloe, 49.63 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 49.
III. Essay, 38The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
3
1526), and Diego’s socius Ordóñez, whose different style must
have impacted Bigarny’s way of working. It is worth specu-
lating whether this confrontation with italianate values in
Granada helped Bigarny and Diego Siloe collaborate once
again in the Constable Chapel after their pleito in 1509.
Diego goes beyond what standards his master Bigarny had
set out for him. As with the Florentine influences, irreverence
to his elder led to Diego’s later success. While the older art-
ist dictated the proportions with standards set in Granada,
Diego influenced the details in a manner previously unseen
in Bigarny’s work. This fact is evident in the simplest detail,
the bases of the sculptures. While in the Saint Peter altar-
piece master Bigarny and Diego treated the bases differently
- Diego with his rocky slab-like bases and Bigarny with his
more neoclassical, simple bases - in the High Altar the vast
majority of the bases are rocky, in a siloesque manner, despite
the fact that many pieces such as those of Synagogue and
Church were carved by Bigarny.64
64 For further research on the attributions: Estella Marcos. La imaginería de los ret-ablos de la Capilla del Condestable. (Burgos: Cabildo Metropolitano, Asociación de Amigos de la Catedral, 1995.)
III. Essay, 39The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Felipe BigarnyFig. 27 above: Synagogue(c.1522-26)
108 in. | 160 cm Fig. 28 below: Church (c.1522-26)
108 in. | 160 cmwood with paint and gilding
High Altar, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
Diego
4
After 1523, and Diego’s collaboration with Felipe Birgarny in the Constable Chapel, he
started to receive a great number of sculptural commissions, and towards 1528 he began to
work with architecture. Based from the High Gothic framework of Burgos, Diego’s plateresque
Renaissance motifs for decoration and his first-hand knowledge of the traditions of Italy work
into his own style. The Acuña tomb clearly quoted from Italy, though Diego worked side by
side with his own father’s portrait of Acuña in this same funerary chapel.(fig. 12 & 13) In 1523,
Diego was embarking on a realm of interpretations which he would still need to mould into
his own language.
The first aspect of his work that evidences a singular style are his ornamental grotesques. His
unique perspective on ornamentation emerges first in the design of the Barcelona Choir Stalls
(fig. 11). On the Acuña tomb however, Diego still held a rigid and tight grasp on the classical
shapes of Italy. He used scrolling foliage as on the Pollaioulo tomb of Sixtus IV, strapwork
common on silverware and ironwork at the time, and beading similar to classical friezes. He
compartmentalizes the figures of the Seven Virtues and Sybil with a strong vertical scroll, and
focuses on a single figure at a time. Erwin Panofsky says that the inclusion of the Virtues on
tombs was a shift in ideology – rather than focusing on the onset of eternal life, tombs then
also focused on the glorification of an individual’s past.65 This shift in purpose might add to
the unsure rigidity of this work. Compared to Diego’s Golden Staircase, the fantastical figures,
move in any which way and playing with the empty spaces.(Fig. 29) Underneath a figure of
a man with a wild beast, Diego places a C-scroll in the corner, breaking the space between
the low relief and the classical frieze (Fig. 30) The Escalera piece from 1521 foreshadows the
playfulness with which Siloe would approach ornamentation from this time forward.
65 Erwin Panofsky as quoted in Redondo Cantera, El Sepulcro en España, 200.
III. Essay, 40The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
The Escalera Dorada was completed for bishop Alfonso de Fonseca
(1476-1574), the same patron whose tomb Ordóñez was completing in
Carrara at the time.66 Though it is contemporary or even slightly earlier
to the work Diego completes in the Constable Chapel with Bigarny,
his design of the Escalera Dorada belongs to a different personality. As
mentioned before, the piece is full of movement and classical allusions,
and it stands recognised today as one of the most unique structures of
the Spanish Renaissance. The structure works with the extremely un-
even land on which the Burgos Cathedral is built, and makes a double
staircase that seems to resemble some designs Bramante made for the
Vatican in Rome.67 This more Italian source is complemented by Diego’s
very personal ornamental sculpture.
The rails of the stairs are decorated with Lombard scrollwork and
66 Wethey, “The Early Works”, 227.67 Fernández, Los grutescos del Protorrenacimiento, 24.
III. Essay, 41The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 29 Diego SiloeEscalera dorada (1519-22)
Carved stone, wood, ironwork with later
gilding Burgos Cathedral,
Burgos
fig. 30 (next page)Diego Siloe
Fantastical scene (1519-1522)
Escalera dorada detailCarved stone
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
III. Essay, 42The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
cherubs, and grotesques cover all of the stone
surfaces: putti with fantastical creatures, bird-
like inventions, majestic scrolls, nudes in clas-
sical poses stand alongside monstrous crea-
tures that “are probably taken out of medieval
ancestries,”68 and winged dragons sit atop the
ends of the stone handrails. (Fig. 31)
The main importance of defining these forms,
as Fernández does in her doctoral dissertation,
Diego’s usage on later altarpieces and later ar-
chitecture – birds, fantastical beasts, hooded figures, cherubs, trosses of fruit. Along with the
characteristic poses and shapes of the figures he carves, analysed in the rest of this chapter, the
forms of his grotesques immensely help scholars attribute work to Diego. Based on Fernández’s
analysis, Siloe must have also aided in the drawing up of the cimborrio ornamentation of the
Burgos Cathedral, implying that the master collaborated with master stonemason Juan de
Vallejo (c. 1500 - c. 1569) and Vallejo did not complete it on his own as was believed before.69
According to Fernández, the highly original grotesque forms of Diego’s are influenced
by prints by Nicoletto Rosex da Modena.70 This printmaker combined real and fantastical
creatures in his drawings of grotesques, different than for example Felipe Birgarny’s simple
garlands and vases. In Diego’s later work in Granada, analysed in Chapter 5, the grotesques
become a key aspect to help historians identify his work. This low-relief ornaments work to-
68 Ibid, 290. translation: author’s own.69 Ibid, 289.70 Ibid, 299.
Nicoletto de Modena’s engravings are a very interesting new source for Diego Siloe’s work. M. M. Licht’s publication “A Book of Drawings by Nicoletto de Modena,” [Master Drawings, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1970), . 379-387+432-444] includes various images that resemble aspects of Diego’s work. Licht cites Hind’s Early Italian Engravings. London, 1948. Licht’s sources are mainly housed in the libraries in London and Italy, however, and whether and how these sources arrived in Burgos, or into Diego’s hands would require further research. Nicoletto was in Rome in 1507, but further biographical information on the printmaker is vague.
4
III. Essay, 43The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 31 Diego SiloeWinged dragon and scrolling finnial (1519-22)
Carved stone Escalera dorada (detail)
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
4
gether with Diego’s figurative sculpture to create his own language.
***
With the Cathedral of Burgos dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and her strong cult within
Catholic Spain, it is not surprising that many versions of the Virgin attributed to Diego Siloe
exist. Even a subject that does not always imply a
woman and child, like the figure of Charity on the
Luis Acuña tomb (fig. 32), is shown by Diego as a
mother’s embrace. In such low relief that the eye
must squint to see it, Diego enjoys the bravura of sti-
acciato. The angle of the faces and the loving look in
the child’s eye portray a tenderness reminiscent of
the softness of Donatello. In fact, the piece mirrors
many aspects of the Madonna di Casa Pazzi now in
the Böde-museum in Berlin.71 (fig. 33)
The tomb of Diego Santander, that Diego Siloe
completed two years later, includes a similar low re-
lief of a woman and her child, the Virgin rather than
Charity (fig. 34). This time the figure sits differently,
more similar to the Sybil by Michelangelo (fig. 9).
The heads of the Virgin and the Child similarly face
each other as in the Madonna Pazzi. The Virgin
holds an open book, however, and the Child is a bit
71 Wethey, “On the Early Works”, 325
III. Essay, 44The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 32 Diego Siloe Charity (1519)Carved Stone
Luis Acuña tomb, Burgos Cathedral
fig. 33 Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi Madonna di Casa Pazzi (c.1420)
Marble 29 x 27 in. | 74.5 x 69.5 cm Böde-museum, Berlin inv. no. 41
4
more distanced from the mother with a mantle enveloping her. The drapery behind the Christ
child mirrors this form of the mantle, creating a circular composition despite that the actual
slab is rectangular surmounted by a shell.
Based on the Santander tomb, certain other reliefs have been attributed to Diego as well, in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, in the Cathedral Museum of Valladolid, in the Metropolitan
in New York, and in The Burgos Cathedral.72 The roundel in the Victoria and Albert Museum
at first seems quite different from the massiveness of the two previously mentioned works by
Diego. (cat. 5) It may relate more closely to Diego’s versions of Mary and Mary Magdalene in
the altarpieces of the Constable Chapel (fig. 35 &36) The V&A roundel, of alabaster, relates
to woodworking more than the stone tombs. The medium affects the delicacy of the carved
line. Alabaster was the preferred medium of Diego’s father Gil, undoubtedly affecting Diego’s
style. The V&A catalogue attributes the delicacy and softness of the line to a more Flemish
influence.73 As does E. H. Wethey in an article in 1940, stating that “the head of the London
Madonna, is, to be sure, a trifle rounder and plumper than usual with Diego, a fact explained
by his momentary admiration of Flemish painter Jan Gossart...”74 The roundel in the Burgos
Cathedral Museum, catalogued as Diego Siloe, has a similar delicacy.(cat. 6) It is clearly
based on the same model, if one looks at positioning of her hand and the manner in which
the figures fit into the oval space, except for more mischievous look of the cherub under the
feet of the Christ child. The Burgos Madonna has a bit more movement around the figures,
foreshadowing the Baroque movements of the later sixteenth century. With less incisions and
undercuts in the draperies the piece seems a later version of the same theme. Was it by the same
artist, Diego, or by his workshop? We will probably never know; these pieces were evidently
made for private devotion, as they are smaller and the Christ child is clothed. These types of
commissions are rarely documented.
72 Marjorie Trusted. Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the post-medieval Spanish Sculpture in Wood, Terracotta, Alabaster, Marble, Stone, Lead and Jet in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996), 32. cat. 7.
73 Ibid, 32.74 E. H. Wethey, ““A Madonna and Child by Diego de Siloe.” Art Bulletin. Xxii, (1940), 192.
III. Essay, 45The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
III. Essay, 46The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 34 left: Diego SiloeVirgin and Child (1519-21)Carved stone with traces
of paint Tomb of Diego Santander, Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
fig. 35 bottom left:Diego Siloe
The Presentation in the Temple (towards 1523)
Wood with paint and gilding
High Altarpiece,Constable Chapel
Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
fig. 36 bottom right:Diego Siloe
Mary Magdalene (1519-1521)Wood with paint and
gildingSaint Anne Altarpiece,
Constable Chapel,Burgos Cathedral, Burgos
4
Furthermore, attribution of such pieces is tricky. A roundel in the Valladolid National Mu-
seum of Sculpture was previously attributed to Diego Siloe but is now very clearly attributed to
Gabriel Joly (1495-1538) in 1535.75 If one looks at a roundel by Bigarny in the same museum in
Valladolid (fig. 37) the mixture of Italianate and Flemish influences popular at the time proves
insufficiently specific to prove Diego’s authorship. Especially compared to the V&A roundel,
where the child also caresses his mother’s cheek in the Northern fashion, the gesture is used
by Bigarny, from Burgundy, who similarly admired the Flemish and Italian styles.76 One can
still decipher that the previously mentioned roundels are based on Diego’s work, rather than
Bigarny, due to the different treatment of the female faces and the curls that frame them, and
the apparent age of the Christ child - but the influence of the older Bigarny is clear.
Attribution to Diego proves even more likely based on the statue of Saint Casilda, made by
the artist in around 1524 in the Saint Nicholas Church in Buezo, near Burgos (fig. 38). She has
similar traits. Particularly, the treatment of the hand gripping the cloth and the book parallels
the hand around the child and on the book of the Virgin in the V&A Roundel, and so do the
circular folds of the clothing, also reminiscent of the Santander tomb. The hairstyle identified
by Wethey in the V&A Roundel, with locks of hair against the cheek and a curl above the ear,
is similar to how Saint Casilda’s curls fall around her face.77 Saint Casilda has been re-painted
75 Javier Ibáñez Fernández. “Nuevas aportaciones documentales sobre el retablo mayor de la Catedral de Teruel (1532 - 1536)” Artigrama, 16 (2001): 297-32776 Tesoros en la Catedral de Burgos: El arte al servicio del culto. (Burgos: Bana Bilbao Vizcaya, 1995), 136
77 Wethey, “A Madonna and Child by Diego de Siloe”, 193
III. Essay, 47The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 37 Felipe BigarnyVirgin and Child (1536-1542)
AlabasterNational Museum of Sculpture,
Colegio San Gregorio, Valladolid
4
in subsequent centuries but the
piece keeps a clear memory of
Diego’s carving as a great point
of departure for attributions.
The Virgin reliefs have proof of
previous polychromy, so were
likely to have been just as col-
ourful as the Saint Casilda.
When looking at this series
of female figures by Diego Siloe,
it seems surprising to attribute a
stone Virgin and Child to him, currently in the Louvre (cat. 7). The French museum does
not have concrete evidence of its provenance - it was given to the state after being discovered
illegally transported.78 In lieu of this, the piece’s label has now been changed to state more
generally “Castilian school.” The previous attribution to Diego’s specific circle rings true
however. The detailed carving of the clothing, still visible despite the water damages on the
face and hair is reminiscent of the details on the effigy of the Acuña tomb (fig. 13). A similar
stone sculpture in Palencia, that of the bishop Don Antonio de Rojas (d. 1526) includes infor-
mation that traces it back directly to a contract between Rojas and Diego, so this piece is yet
another good starting point to judge Diego’s carving hand in a different medium. (cat. 8) The
opportunity to see the Louvre Virgin and the Rojas tomb side by side in this exhibition helps
reconsider the Louvre’s doubtful ascription.
Unlike Diego’s pieces in wood, all fineness of a High Gothic technique, including the
delicate hands and fine long nose, disappears when Diego’s chisel starts to work with stone.
78 RF 3587, Department de Sculptures, Musée National du Louvre, Paris. Noted in Acquisitions section: “L’arrête du 15 jan 1985 (RF 3687, 3688, 3689, 3690.)”
III. Essay, 48The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 38 Diego SiloeTomb of Saint Casilda (1524)
Wood, painted and giltSaint Nicholas Church, Buezo
The Acuña tomb also focused much more on the decoration of the clothing and the surrounding
textures, rather than the virtuosity of posture or of composition in general. As the quality and
innovation of Diego’s work was directly related to the amount he was paid, this piece was most
likely completed greatly by apprentices in the workshop used to carving decorative schemes rather
than figurative elements.
Hence, it seems like different people carved some of the pieces attributed and contracted from
Diego Siloe, a subject that must continue to be analysed. Diego’s style changes depending on tech-
nique and the payment, and the specifications of the patron whether they want more High Gothic
style like the roundels or a more Italianate Saint Sebastian. The best method of understanding
Diego Siloe would take these factors into account, and compare the pieces with key works known
to have been carved by Diego.
Specific recurring peculiarities of Diego happen in the face and the positioning of the head,
and also in the contrapposto and the knees. It is helpful to look at the different works that have
been clearly attributed to Diego Siloe around Castile and later in Granada to see how his tech-
nique compares. For instance, a comparison of three versions of the Ecce Homo: one he made in
Burgos for the High Altarpiece of the Constable Chapel, one he made for the Church of Saint
Augustine right outside of Burgos a bit later, and one he made many years later in Granada, for the
Church of San José (cat. 12, 13, & 14.) All three of the works stand in a similar posture; the faces
strangely similar to Gil Siloe’s Crucif ied Christ in the Cartuja de Miraflores (fig. 40) and another
Christ held by two Angels by Diego in the Saint Anne Altarpiece (fig. 41), all with a long nose, a
sideward glance, the slightly parted lips, the stringy strands of hair, and half-closed eyelids. In
the positioning of the legs, Diego seems to be looking back at his time in Italy. The contrapposto
creates posed naturalism. Diego’s skill at rendering the knees and kneecaps, the muscles of the calf
and hamstring is admirable. The legs have great anatomical accuracy when Diego places them
in this particular way upon the base, compared to for example the slightly symbolized eyes, the
static torso or the unhandy positioning of the arms. In the Granada Christ, Diego experiments
with positioning the leg a bit differently, at a right angle, and the positioning seems more amateur,
4
III. Essay, 49The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
4
while the face suddenly achieves much more realism as
Diego Siloe experiments with expressionism.
When compared to the stance of Saint John the
Evangelist in the choir stalls from Valladolid (fig. 42),
or the various versions of the Saint Sebastian there is a
similar essence. Attribution to Diego goes beyond the
slab-like rocks upon which his figures stand and the
knotty trees in the background of many of his compo-
sitions, to the sensitivity of the kneecaps of his figures.
Checa compares the Ecce Homo from the Burgos Ca-
thedral (cat. 12) to the Saint Sebastian from Barbadillo
de Herreros to describe the eclectic technique required
of artists at the time.79 Diego works the first piece creat-
ing an air of desperate martyrdom and empathy, while
the Saint Sebastian embraces the beauty of resignation
to divine will. Both aspects of the sculptural tradition
impact later Spanish works, if one considers the ecstatic
looks of a martyr by el Greco (1541-1614) versus the hy-
per-realist sculptures of Gregorio Fernández(1576-1636)
and Pedro de Mena (1628-1688).
Another interesting case study is comparing the dif-
ferent versions of Saint Jerome completed by Diego
Siloe. The Saint is shown in all the versions as a peni-
tent in the desert. The most definitely attributed Saint
Jerome is from the Saint Peter altarpiece. (fig. 41) In
79 Checa, Pintura y escultura, 146.
III. Essay, 50The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 39 Gil SiloeCrucified Christ (c.1490)
wood, paintedGrand Altarpiece,
Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos
fig. 40 Diego SiloeChrist held up by two angels (1520-23)
wood, painted and gilt 20.3 in | 52 cm
Saint Anne Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos
4
this version Saint Jerome stares at a crucifix
while holding out a rock in an outstretched
arm; the saint was known to have beaten
himself with a rock on the chest. Another at-
tribute of Saint Jerome’s, the lion he tamed,
sits under the ledge of rocks Jerome sits at.
This same ledge almost takes the shape of a
desk, and the books upon it make a reference
to the other situation Saint Jerome is usually
seen in, as a scholar. The rocky base of the
sculpture and the manner in which the hand
rests between the books, as well as the posi-
tioning of the legs resembles what we have
seen in Diego’s figures so far.
The two other versions, one in the Bur-
gos Cathedral Museum (cat. 9) and another
in the Böde-museum in Berlin (cat. 10) have
strong similarities but also stark contrasts
with the version from the Saint Peter altar-
piece. Made in alabaster, the pieces resemble
the original in the shape of the shoulder, the
outward gaze of the saint, the rocky ledge
and the composition with the lion and the
rocks. However, the lion in the Burgos Ca-
thedral version looks quite different from the
other two, implying that was a sketch for the
Saint Peter Altarpiece. This would also ex-
plain the change from skull to crucif ix as
III. Essay, 51The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 41 Diego SiloeSaint Jerome (1521-23)
Carved and painted wood 24.6 in | 63 cm Saint Peter Altarpiece, Constable Chapel,
Burgos Cathedral
memento mori. The lion in the Böde-museum version resembles the first
lion, but Saint Jerome has changed completely, his visage much more
worn and his flesh more worn. The head is larger than the other two
and the hands are much more forcefully placed, insinuating a different
hand perhaps completed the piece.
The Choir Stalls of Saint Benito, orchestrated by Andrés de Najera
(c. 1504-1533) for the San Benito Monastery, was worked on by many
masters, including Diego and Bigarny. Diego’s panel of Saint John the
Evangelist accords with his earlier work, as the saint is standing in a
rocky landscape with a knotted tree behind him in the classic contrap-
posto stance. From only the knees downwards, the figure looks very
much like the Ecce Homo in the Burgos Cathedral and Saint Sebastian
in Barbadillo de Herreros. Diego Siloe’s panel, in the centre, contrasts
greatly with the panels carved by others. (Fig. 42) While the figures all
stand within a dome-like structure and are approximately the same size,
III. Essay, 52The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 42 Diego SiloeSt. John the Baptist (1525)
Carved wood Choir Stalls of St. Benito
National Museum of Sculpture, Colegio San
Gregorio, Valladlid
4
Diego Siloe employs a different posture and his drapery fol-
lows the anatomy, the curls on his head fly in the wind, and
he crosses his arm over his torso to point. Maybe different
due to the Saint shown as a penitent, but also because of
Diego’s intrinsic stylistic choices.
These are Diego’s last years in Burgos. During this time,
Diego completed a Saint Michael as archangel for a church
in Sasamón. (cat. 15) This piece is most characteristic
because of the manner in which Diego has carved faces
into the knees of the Saint’s armour, supposedly portray-
ing the judgement of God.80 In subsequent years, Alonso
Berruguete (1489-1561) does a similar thing for his Saint
Michael, now in the Valladolid Museum of Sculpture (fig.
43). Berruguete’s style, much more influenced by the later
styles of Michelangelo, is more muscular and coarser than
the Saint Michael by Diego. Diego employs finer features,
brighter colours and more idealistic proportions than Berru-
guete, another important Spanish Renaissance master based
out of Salamanca and Toledo favoured greatly by Charles V.
These are Diego’s last years based in Burgos. He travelled through Castile, and in 1527 he
travels all the way south to Granada. This city had welcomed the works of Bigarny ten years
prior, and seemed ready for a new master imaginario. Diego had not planned to leave Burgos
yet, as he won a competition to design the tower at Santa María del Campo in Burgos. He
was arguing the contract for this project at the end of the year 1527.81 One of Diego’s first true
80 Mentioned by tour guides in Sasamón, this information is colloquial.81 Miguel Ángel Zalama Rodriguez. “Diego de Siloe y la torre de Santa Maria del Campo.” Boletín del Seminario de Estudios
de Arte y Arqueología, Tomo 56 (1990): 405.
III. Essay, 53The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 43 Alonso BerrugueteSaint Michael (towards 1520)
wood and alabaster with painting and gilding
National Museum of Sculpture, Colegio San Gregorio, Valladolid
4
architectural commissions, designing this tower marks the beginning of a very long, very
different career. During one of Diego’s visits to Granada, Bigarny filed a pleito trying to take
over the commission and Diego fights for the right to build Santa María del Campo church
tower. After the pleito with Bigarny settled, (Diego wins) Diego received notice that he was
needed in Granada. His assistant Juan de Salas finished the designs of the church tower in
Burgos, as Diego went on to work on bigger and better things.
III. Essay, 54The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Granada
5
One of the first readily documented works by Diego
Siloe in Granada was to create new sculpture portraits
of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand in the Royal
Chapel, or Capilla Real. Originally master Felipe Bir-
garny completed the kneeling sculptures, in the funerary
chapel the king and queen. Apparently, the authorities
were unhappy with Bigarny’s portrayal of the two fig-
ures.82 (fig. 46) They asked Siloe, funnily enough the
son of Gil Siloe, one of Isabel’s favourite sculptors, to
create new versions. (fig. 44) The rest of the High Altar
is carved by Bigarny, and kept that way. The piece looks
a lot like the High Altar of the Constable Chapel in its
proportions. (fig. 26)
The two portraits pleased the royal patrons even
though Diego had not achieved great likenesses in prior
commissions like the Acuña or the Rojas tombs. Perhaps
Diego was better acquainted with the manner in which
Isabel and Ferdinand liked to portray themselves, as his
father Gil also carved portraits of them in the Cartuja
de Miraflores. (fig 45) Diego discards the flowing, bombé
sleeves that Bigarny employed and humbly covers Queen
Isabel’s hair. King Ferdinand is shown in armour rather
82 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 34. A royal decree from 27 November 1526 declaring that the Capilla Real must have new kneeling sculptures.
III. Essay, 55The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
f ig 46 Felipe Bigarny Queen Isabel praying (1510)
wood with paint and gildingCapilla Real Museum, Granada
fig 45 Gil Siloe Queen Isabel praying (1493)Wood with paint and gilding
detail from High Altar, Cartuja de Miraf lores, Burgos
f ig 44 Diego Siloe Queen Isabel praying (1528)
detail from the High Altar,Capilla Real, Granada
photo in blAck And White due to photogrAphy restrictions Within the cApillA reAl
5
that the voluminous cape Bigarny originally carved. The Diego sculptures’ mask-like faces
makes the figures feel alien from the crowd, while Bigarny’s faces were perhaps more approach-
able. The switch has been upheld until present day; the Diego Siloe pieces hold the honour of
being within the chapel and the Bigarny portraits are left in the Capilla Real museum next
door.
Alongside the Capilla Real existed the foundations to the Granada Cathedral. Works were
held up because the previous overseer and designer of the project, Enrique Egas (1455 - 1534),
was no longer able to complete the commission.83 Egas had determined the cathedral would
be Gothic and enormous - a clear sign of the victory over the Moors in Granada after 1492.
But as the Spanish aesthetic changed, King Charles had personally wished for a more modern
building.84 The challenge for the following designer would be to work upon a Gothic base-
ment and build up a Renaissance building. Diego Siloe took up this challenge and his ideas
were stellar. The columns that were meant to be striated in the Gothic fashion now turned
into Corinthian columns upon giant plinths with an
interesting optical illusion in their capitols (fig. 47).
The building was not completely constructed until
1704, and hence the original designs by Siloe trans-
lated into the languages of subsequent centuries. For
example, the original design included two pinnacles/
towers, of which only one was built, mainly because
of the lack of material, sponsorship, and the difficul-
ties of the heavy build upon Gothic basements.85
The original ideas can be discovered, however.
The Puerta del Perdón - Door of Forgiveness - into
83 Ibáñez et al., Del Gótico al Renacimiento, 13984 Ibid, 13985 Emilio Orozco Díaz. La Capilla Real de Granada. (Granada: Albaicín/ Sadea: 1968.) 12
III. Essay, 56The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 47 Diego SiloeSiloesque columns (1528-1704)
Architectural detail Granada Cathedral, Granada
III. Essay, 57The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 48 Diego SiloeFrieze and Arch Ornament detail (1537) Carved stone
Puerta del Perdón, Granada Cathedral, Granada
5
the nave of the Granada Cathedral is completely Siloe’s design, even signed with his last name
in the corner.86 The quirky grotesques and the Renaissance motifs point towards Diego Siloe’s
aesthetic. (Fig. 31) New developments are Siloe’s employment of Latin phrases, clearly designat-
ing the Virtues he carved. Also, it is apparent that Diego now has an extensive workshop to
help him with the ornamentation; the execution of the grotesques and ornamental garlands is
impeccable. This correlates to the designs Diego employed for the Monastery of Saint Jerome
(fig. 25), a frieze inscribed with phrases such as Fortitudo (Strength) and Industria (Industry)
to exalt the renewed Spanish kingdom. Beside the new political dimension of some of his
sculptural work in Granada, the grand scale of his designs and the conversion to Latin texts
portray the monumentality of his new aspirations.
The original Diego remained in Granada via his sculpture, completed in his lifetime, unlike
the Granada Cathedral. The entryway to the sacristy of this cathedral includes such sculp-
ture. Now known as the Puerta del Ecce Homo, the
entryway includes an over-door roundel of the Ecce
Homo from which it derives its name. This piece was
carved by Diego Siloe himself,87 even though it is now
weathered by time, it demonstrates Siloe continued to
carve sculptures of themes he had completed in Bur-
gos.(cat. 12 & 13) The Puerta de San Jerónimo includes
an over-door figurative relief (fig. 49) that is clearly
reminiscent of the Saint Jerome figures he carved in
Burgos. (fig. 41, cat. 8 & 9)
The Saint Jerome Monastery, of the same name-
sake, stands a couple hundred metres from the Gra-
nada Cathedral. It is believed that some of these carv-
86 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 53.87 Ibid, 54.
III. Essay, 58The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
fig. 49 Diego SiloeA Penitent Saint Jerome (after 1528)
StonePuerta San Jerónimo,
Granada Cathedral, Granada
5
ings are the first that Siloe completed in Granada, along with the sculptures of Ferdinand and
Isabel. Diego carved many elements in the building, as it was privately sponsored and provided
the architect with more substantial salaries than the publicly funded, and long-winded process
at the Cathedral.88 The monastery was already completed when Diego Siloe added elements for
the frieze of the second story of the building (fig. 25) also adding a great cupola to the chapel
inside, as the Catholic Kings and the Bishops had decided that the original design lacked
height.89 The chapel’s interior was an impressive collaboration of works from key figures of the
age, including many elements that remind one of the particularities of Siloe’s style.
Thematically, the chapel falls interestingly in synch Diego Siloe’s roots in Burgos, as for
example art historian Fernando Checa compares this chapel to the Cartuja de Miraflores,
ornamented by his father Gil, as both structures built in different cities and at different times,
are funerary churches.90 Checa continues to analyse the humanist symbolism used by Diego
Siloe in the Saint Jerome Monastery in Granada, standing as a eulogy to military hero Sir
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453 – 1515), also known as the Great Captain. The Cartuja
de Miraflores had been a funerary chapel of Juan II of Castile and his wife, Isabel of Portugal.
The Monastery chapel functions as “a compiled rhetorical allegory that raises the virtues,
Fame and Glory and all the other virtues of the Great Captain [...] Saints, warriors, shields,
and portraits of character are the base of the design.”91 The Monastery’s designs reflected
back upon the deeds of the Captain and his wife, much like Gil’s tombs of Juan II of Castile
and Isabel of Portugal propagated their piety and virtues in the High Gothic style (fig. 16)
Though one can find links with Diego’s time in Burgos, master Diego Siloe actually shifts
into strong Italian tendencies after 1528. Factors that might have affected this shift include
the influx of Italian works entering Spain after the Sack of Rome in 1527, and a belief that
88 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 35.89 Ibid, 35.90 Checa, Pintura y escultura, 91.91 Ibid, 91. translation: author’s own.
III. Essay, 59The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
5
perhaps Granada would become the new Rome.92 An example of this more strict, simplistic
neoclassicism is seen in the Arch of Saint Gil, currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Granada.
The piece comes from the now-destroyed Church of San Gil in Granada, and some of the
pieces can be found in the Archeological Museum of Granada as well.93 The arch and the
roundels all imply a very strictly mathematical drawing of the proportions, and the regimented
decorative elements fall far from the plateresque style previously popular throughout Spain.
Furthermore, the piece is from 1544, a time when Diego Siloe’s workshop expands to include
master masons like Juan de Maeda so Diego’s personal Burgos touch decreases.94 These are
the beginnings of the Granada circle that would continue to develop master Diego’s style well
into the seventeenth century.
Two other pieces, currently in the Granada Fine Art Museum, are from the Saint Jerome
Monastery. It is apparent that Siloe truly dedicated effort and time to create strong works for
that establishment. A panel of the Virgin and Child in carved wood comes from the choir stalls
in that monastery’s chapel. (cat. 17) The composition resembles the choir stalls of Saint Benito,
currently in the Museum at Valladolid. (fig. 42) If one compares the composition to previous
versions of the Madonna carved by Siloe in Burgos, for example, the piece has undertones of
Diego’s time in Burgos. (fig. 32 & 34). The rectangular panel and more stylised folds of the
clothing alludes more directly to Donatello’s Madonna Pazzi.(fig. 33) The grotesques lining
the top relate to the new style of ornament used by Diego in the Puerta del Perdón. (fig. 48)
The Puerta del Perdón also employs many roundels, a form almost used obsessively by Diego
Siloe in Granada. The Granada Cathedral has circular windows and structures, the Arch of
Saint Gil includes roundels of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Saint Jerome Monastery also has
circular motifs. The second piece from the Granada Fine Art Museum saved from this Saint
Jerome Monastery, is such a roundel. (cat. 18) Historians have not agreed yet on where it is
92 Marques, “Una Paradoja Sobre las Relaciones Entre Italia y España en el Renacimiento”, 93.93 Emilio Orozco Díaz. Guía del museo provincial de bellas artes de Granada. (Madrid: Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia,
1966), 37.94 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 64.
III. Essay, 60The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
5
from and whether it was accompanied by other pieces.95 The roundel is a masterful portrait
of a young Saint John, with a halo inscribed “Siloe ft” - fecit, or made it. The piece could
have been for private devotion within the monastery, or a section of a larger compilation of
a group of the Evangelists or the Apostles. Stylistically, the piece correlates to Siloe’s earlier
techniques, as the piece is carved of wood and then painted. The later repainting makes it
difficult to decipher how it would have originally looked, but the forms of the collar and the
hair also relate to Siloe’s work back in Burgos.
Particularly, back in Burgos, Saint John the Evangelist from the Saint Peter Altarpiece in
the Constable Chapel relates to this roundel (cat. 11). This piece’s facial features and position-
ing are almost identical, with a different hair colour. Particularly the gaze is important, as
the Saint looks up in a thoughtful way as he holds his pen and ink. Knowing this past piece
of Siloe’s gives the roundel more substance than as just a portrait roundel. Estella Marcos
compares this piece to the sensitivity of the Saint Sebastian of the tomb of the Caracciolo and
in Barbadillo de Herreros, but even beyond this sensitivity this Saint John from Burgos looks
like the Granada roundel.96 The manner in which the curls frame the face and the eyes look
upwards, the strangely similar to an angle of the face of the young Saint John confirms the
attribution to Diego, as well as the chance that the Saint John roundel might not have had
hair as dark as the nineteenth-century repainting.
Diego Siloe described through his sculptural sensitivities rather than his architectural in-
novations is exactly whom this exhibition is after. There is a difference in feeling between
Diego Siloe as a sculptor and as an architect; the difference between a work that is of the
circle of Diego and truly siloesque. When Diego carves the piece himself one can truly read
the roots of his aesthetic.
In 1547, Siloe writes the Duke of Sesa a letter, mentioning his current state as an elderly
95 Orozco Díaz, Guía, 31-32.96 Estella Marcos, Retablos de la Capilla del Condestable, 128
III. Essay, 61The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
5
man. The tone is supplicant, describing Diego’s move to Granada as a flight to the promised
land, and that apparently this move had not created as much income as he had hoped.97 Gómez
Moreno believes this is an attempt by Diego Siloe to regain status or money, as he had mar-
ried a very rich wife, Ana de Bazán, earlier that year, his expenditures had increased, and
he even had a pleito with the family of his new wife over 1,000 ducats.98 This documentation
shines a very different light on Diego Siloe than the successful travelling sculptor his pieces
imply. Despite the desperate tone of Siloe’s pleas in this letter, his will in 1563 includes a vast
number of beneficiaries. Diego even charitably leaves behind a dowry for five orphan girls, as
he did not have children of his own.99
The paradox of his pleas and his successes make it difficult to define Diego Siloe’s true
standing in Granada. However, the persistence of his influence and the reverberations of
his style on the architecture of this same city as well as others in Spain speak for themselves.
The School of Granada – a Renaissance architectural stronghold – has been analysed in the
subsequent centuries. Architecture notwithstanding, Diego’s sculptural work has fallen out of
the limelight. This is possibly due to the grandiosity of those innovations. In order blow off
the dust from all that has been written on Diego’s sculpture, a voyage back in time to Castile,
such as we have done here, becomes necessary.
97 Ibáñez et al, Del Gótico al Renacimiento, 13898 Gómez Moreno, Diego Siloe, 61.99 Ibid, 63.
III. Essay, 62The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Conclusion
6
Diego Siloe’s sculptural œuvre shines light on the artist before he became master in Gra-
nada. Despite the characterisation of his architectural work solely a la romana and his stay
in Naples, a more intimate side – until recently – remained to be discovered in his sculptural
development. A man following the footsteps of his father, who fought with other carvers like
Felipe Bigarny but helped many others with their designs, including emparejador Juan de
Vallejo on the Burgos Cathedral cimborr io and Juan Maeda on the façade of the Saint Gil
Church (cat. 16) in Granada.
Diego has a singular style that changes depending on his medium. By virtue of still-existing
contracts and documents at the time, certain key works are concretely attributed to him.
The Constable Chapel altarpieces demonstrate his style in wood, while the tombs of Acuña,
Santander, and Antonio de Rojas represent his style in stone. In stone his gesture was more
static, with a focus on decorative detail as evidenced in pillows and collars of clothing, most
likely due to the fact that Siloe let the artisans in the workshop complete the pieces beyond
their design. Whereas in wood, Siloe takes a personal interest, and certain themes reoccur.
The Saint Sebastian (cat. 1) is a marble version of what Siloe usually did in wood; working with
a dynamic contrapossto posture, anatomically correct compared to other Spaniards’ carving
at the time. He tends to carve the same type of base under his figures, a rocky surface that
looks like slabs of granite - perhaps simply as a signature feature. When he needs a bit of a
background, he uses a knotted tree, or a pattern of his fantastical grotesques.
This essay and catalogue intend to document the trajectory of Diego’s sculptural work,
and much research remains to be completed. Further delving into the connections to the en-
gravings by Nicoletto de Modena is necessary, particularly beyond the design of grotesques.
Also, many more connections between Diego’s other works in Naples with Ordóñez and his
later commissions in Burgos exist. Moreover, deeper research into the archives of the Burgos
III. Essay, 63The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
6
Cathedral, whose entire documentation will be published digitally later this year, might pro-
vide deeper information regarding Diego Siloe’s relationship with his father Gil, his master
Felipe, his brother Juan, and many other members of the Burgos circle. Alonso Berruguete, a
contemporary of Diego’s, who is only briefly mentioned in this catalogue, followed a similar
path between Italy and Spain yet developed a different italianate style. The connections be-
tween these two artists also leave much to be discovered. Additional research on the Biblical
iconography used by the artists in the Burgos Cathedral and their sources, at the date of this
catalogue, have yet to be published.
Spanish Renaissance sculpture provides art historians with a field of research that feeds off
of two extremely interesting movements, the Italian Renaissance and the Gothic movement of
the North as seen interpreted in the estilo isabelino. The combination of these artistic streams
with Spanish tradition creates a melange that is at times difficult to discern. Illuminating
the works of Diego Siloe, it is the author’s hope that the value of sixteenth-century Spanish
sculpture will recapture its proper spotlight in present-day art history.
III. Essay, 64The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
IV. Catalogue, 65The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Exhibit ion Catalogue
IV
IV. Catalogue, 66The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeSaint Sebastian
1.
Place where i t was made: poss ibly Naples, Italy, or Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c. 1519-1528
Size: height: 33.2 in | 85 cm
Material: White Carrara Marble
Provenance: Donated to the par ish church of Barbadillo de Herreros by Don Mart ín Leonardo de la Barga
P re s e n t L o ca t i o n : Ba rba d i l lo de Herreros Parish Church, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Checa, Fernando. "El Modelo Clásico y los intentos
de reg u lar i zac ión" P i n t u ra y e s c u l t u ra d e l R enac imi en t o e n España . Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 1983. 146, Fig. 123
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimiento Español : Ordóñez , S ilóe , Machuca , Ber ruguet e . Madrid: C.S.I.C., Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1941. 53. 131
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego de S iloe: Homenaje e n e l I V c e n t e n a r i o d e s u mu e r t e . Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1963. 17, lam. V
Pantorba, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles: estudio histór ico y cr ít ico. Madrid: Blass, 1952. 29. Fig. 24, 25
Rubio Velasco, Cándido. Barbadi l l o d e Her re ros . Burgos: Impresora Santos, 2001. 188-190. 187, 189.
Wethey, Harold E. "The Early Works of Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego Siloe." Art Bulletin Vol. 25 (1943): 345
Zorr i l la , J. Mart ín. Apun t e s pa ra l a h i s t o r i a d e Barbadillo. Archivo Parroquial de Burgos. f. 144.
Catalogues:Catálogo General de la Exposición de arte retrospectivo,
con occas ion del IV cent enar io de la Catedral de Burgos. Burgos: Aldecoa, 1926. 9. Fig 669.
According to legend, the martyr Saint Sebastian was ordered to be shot with arrows for being secretly Christian. The subject was often used by Renaissance Italians as an reason to portray the male nude.
IV. Catalogue, 67The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Master Gil SiloeSaint Sebastian
2.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: last decade of f ifteenth century
Size: height: 9.75 in | 25 cm
Mater ial: Wood with paint ing and gilding
Inscriptions: none
P r o v e n a n c e : B u r g o s C a t h e d r a l Museum collection
Present L ocat i on : Santa Cata l ina Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
The frontality and size of this Saint Sebastian contrasts greatly to his son’s version years later. Joaquín Yarza Luaces postulates that most of Gil’s work was actually carved by Diego de la Cruz - this small sketch in wood, painted and gilt, could perhaps be a presentation to master Gil, the head of the workshop, as a preliminary sketch for future work.
IV. Catalogue, 68The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Gil SiloeSaint Mar y of Eg ypt
3.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: towards 1500
Size: height: 20.635 inches | 53 cm width: 23 cm
Material: Wood with polychromy and gilding
Inscriptions: none
Provenance: Made for the Saint Anne A l t a r p iec e i n t he C on s t ab le Chapel
Present Location: Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Estel la Marcos, Margar ita. La imag in e r í a d e l os
re tablos de la Capil la del Condestabl e . Burgos: Cabildo Metropolitano, Asociación de Amigos de la Catedral, 1995. 60, 61.
This piece was previously thought to be of Saint Mary Magdalene as penitent in the desert. However the cloak on her back (an allusion to the cloak given to her by the monk Zosimus) relates the piece to the story of Mary of Egypt. Diego Siloe carves a f igure of Mary Magdalene (f ig. 36) in the Saint Anne Altarpiece reiterates that this must be a different saint. The ambiguity arises out of the lack of her typical attributes (that differentiate her from the penitent Mary Magdalene): three breadloafs, her only nourishment in the desert.
IV. Catalogue, 69The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Felipe BigarnySaint Catherine of Alexandria
4.
Place where it was made: Salamanca, Spain
Date of work: 1505
Dating Evidence: part of the altarpiece of the University of Salamanca commissioned from Bigarny
Size: height: 32.8 in | 84 cm
Material: Wood, paint and gilding
Provenance: Acquired in 1972 as an eff igy of Queen Isabel, until Luis Luna attributed it in 1987.
Present Locat ion: Museo Naciona l de Escu ltura del Coleg io San Gregorio, Valladolid
Museum no.: CE0722
Literature or Documentation:Literature:G ómez Moreno, M a nue l . "L a Capi l l a de l a
Univers idad de Sa lamanca," Bol e t í n d e l a Soc i edad Cast e l l ana d e Excurs i on es. tomo VI (1913-1914): 321-329, 324.
Marcos Vil lán, Miguel Ángel. Santa Catal ina de Al e jandr í a . Val ladol id: Museo Nacional de Escultura. number 12807.
Urrea Fernández, Jesús. Tesoros del Museo Nacional de Escultura. Valladolid: Museo Nacional de Escultura, 2005. 60-62.
Catalogues:Arbeteta Mira, Letizia et al. : The Heart of Spain:
a rare exhibit ion of Spa in's rel ig ious ar t , ant iquit ies and icon: Exhibit ion catalogue.Alexandria Museum of Art, 2003. 129.
Escul t u ra d e l s i g l o XV I e n Ca s t i l l a y L eón . Luna Moreno, Luis, ed. 1987. 10-12 cat. 6509
Gómez Moreno, Manuel. Catálogo Monumental de España : Prov inc ia de Salamanca . Salamanca, 1967. 238, cat. 1980
Obras del Museo Nac ional de Escul tura , expos i c ión . Urrea Fernández, Jesús, ed. (Valladolid, 1997): 36-37
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, supposedly of royal birth, converted to Christianity baptised by a desert hermit and underwent a mystic marriage with Christ. Her popularity is second only to Saint Mary Magdalene of all the female saints. Her special attribute is a wheel, usually with spikes, on which she was tortured but broke in the process.
IV. Catalogue, 70The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeRoundel: Relief of Virgin and Child
5.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c.1520-1528
Size: height: 10.625 in | 27.25 cm
width: 7.625 in | 20.1 cm
Mater ial: A labaster, with traces of paint and gilding
Inscriptions: i l legible inscription on the band on Virgin’s clothing
Provenance: Acquired from the John Charles Robinson Col lect ion, 1879.
P r e s e n t L o c a t i o n : V i c t o r i a a n d A lber t Museum, London, UK (Mus. No.: 153-1879)
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gómez Moreno, Manuel. Diego Siloe. 17.
Gómez Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimiento Español, 1941. 51
Estella Marcos, Margarita. “Obras escultóricas del siglo XVI en los conventos de la Trinidad y de la Merced de Burgos.” Archivo español de arte. 205 (1979).
Wethey, Harold E. “A Madonna and Child by Diego de Si loe." Ar t Bul l e t in . Vol. 22, No. 5 (Dec. 1940): 190-196. f ig. 2.
Wethey, Harold. 'The early works of Bartolome Ordonez and Diego de Siloe' Art Bullet in. 25, (1943): 336.
Catalogues:L i st of Objects in the Art Divi s ion , South Kens ington
Museum acquired in the Year 1879. London, 1880, 15.
Catalogue of the Spec ial Loan Exhibi t ion of Spani sh and Portuguese Ornamental Art London, London: South Kensington Museum, 1881. 113, cat. 704.
Trusted, Marjorie. Spanish sculpture : catalogue of the post-medieval Spanish sculpture in wood, terracotta, alabaster, marble, stone, lead and jet in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. 31-34, cat.7.
Tesoros en la Cathedral de Burgos: El arte al servicio del culto. Bana Bilbao Vizcaya, 1995. 136-7.
Zalama, M.A. Catá l ogo d e l a expos i c i ón R e ye s y Mecenas. Toledo: Museo de la Santa Cruz, 1992. 340-1, cat. 72.
This piece in the V&A has been attributed to Diego de Siloe since its acquisition in 1879 from the John Charles Robinson Collection. The composition, the technique, and the fact that the Christ-child is clothed all point towards it being a Spanish piece. The gesture, with the child holding the mother’s chin, is inf luenced by Flemish compositions. Diego, as the most Italianate descendant of the Burgos school, and some of his followers produced many versions of this small, framed image. All versions seem to derive from the composition by Desiderio da Settignano en Pinacoteca Sabauda de Turin, sizably larger and more classicist than the posterior interpretations. Marjorie Trusted, in a letter to Alberto Bartolomé Anaiza, the director of the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas mentions that the V&A roundel is closest in composition to the Santander relief, but also has a “more classical, less sweet-featured” visage.
IV. Catalogue, 71The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Diego SiloeVirgin and Child Mir ror
6.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c.1520-1528
Mat e r i a l : A laba s ter, i n or ig i na l wooden frame
Inscr ipt ions: mark of the Velasco family (patrons of the Constable Chapel) on the escutcheon of the frame
Provenance: documented in Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral since 1524
Present Location: Museo Diocesano, Burgos Cathedral
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimiento
Español, 53.
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego Siloe. 1963. 17, lam. V
Pantorba, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles. 29. Fig. 24, 25
Rubio Velasco, Cándido. Barbadi l l o d e Her re ros. Burgos: Impresora Santos, 2001. 188-190. 187, 189.
Wethey, H. E. "The Early Works," 345.
Wethey, H.E. A Madonna and Child by Diego Siloe. Art Bullet in . Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec., 1940): 192, 194, f ig. 5.
Zorri l la, J. Mart ín. Apuntes para la histor ia de Barbadillo. Archivo Parroquial de Burgos. f. 144.
Catalogues:Tesoros de la catedral de Burgos: el arte al ser vic io del
culto. Burgos: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, 1995. 136.
In a 1995 catalogue in the Burgos Cathedral, the piece is described as of a Florentine origin because of the inclusion of the cherub head, the high waisted dresses, and showing the f igures at three-quarter length. In contrast,, the gesture of the Christ child, reaching for his mother’s chin, derives from a more Flemish source.
IV. Catalogue, 72The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Castilian school | previously attributed to Diego SiloeVirgin and Child
7.
Place where it was made: Castile, Spain
Date of work: second quarter of the sixteenth century
Dating Evidence: In a 1985 cession of the Direct ion génera le des Douanes the object is described having “the massive forms, the ample drapery, the round face are, in a less scholarly art form, distinctive signs of the Castilian work of the movement of Diego de Siloe and his workshop.”
Size: height: 25.6 in | 65 cm
width: 12.6 in | 32 cm
Material: Stone with traces of paint
Provenance: A free cession in 1984 to the Louvre museums from the Direct eur Gèneral des Douanes , along with a Saint Anthony from Catalonia, Virgin Enthroned from Carclagne, and a processiona l Crucifixion.
Present Location: Museé National du Louvre (RF 3587)
This stone sculpture of the Virgin and Child, weathered greatly by time, correlates strongly Diego’s style. The massiveness of the Virgin’s f igure and the circular drapes around the arms, the gesture of the Christ child and the carving of the hair is similar to carving in Burgos of the early sixteenth century. The base is different from Diego’s usual rocky style, but may be cut down.Though the piece is very different from other Virgins by Diego, it relates strongly to the carving of the Antonio Rojas tomb from Palencia (cat. 8).
IV. Catalogue, 73The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeDon Antonio de Rojas Tomb
8.
Place where it was made: Pa lencia, Spain
Date of work: 1526
Dating Evidence: Contract found in the Santovo Parish Archives, fol. 95, leg. 1. Dated 20 june mdxxvi. (1526)
Size: height: 70.75 in | 186 cm
Material: White stone from Atapuerca
Provenance: This piece, commissioned d i r e c t l y b y t he B i s ho p D on Antonio de Rojas from Diego in 1526, when he felt his health was fail ing him, was to be placed in the Main Chapel of the Villasilos Monastery in Palencia. After the dest ruct ion of th is monaster y, it was moved to the hospita l in Boadilla de Camino, after which it was moved to the Iglesia de la Dehesa, where it currently stands.
Present Location: Iglesia de la Dehesa de Espinosa, Palencia, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Castro, Lázaro de. “Diego de Siloe y el sepulcro del
Obispo burgalés Don Antonio de Rojas." Boletin de la Institución Fernán González. No. 183, (1974): 319-320
Portela Sandoval, Francisco José. La escultura del S iglo XVI en Pal enc ia . Palencia: Diputación Provincial, 1977. 123-125.
Redondo Cantera, María José. “Diego Siloe, autor del sepulcro de Don Antonio de Rojas.” Boletín del Seminario de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA. Tomo 44. (1978): 446-451.
This kneeling portrait — all that is left of the entire structure of the Rojas tomb — was saved from the destruction of its original location. Hence we have the unique opportunity of exhibiting a sixteenth century tomb f igure from Spain. The piece currently sits outside in the garden of the Dehesa de Espinosa Church in Palencia.
IV. Catalogue, 74The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego de SiloeSaint Jerome in the Desert
9.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c. 1523-1528
Material: Alabaster
Present Location: Museo Diocesano, Burgos Cathedral
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego de Siloe, 1963. 20.
This piece in alabaster is intimately related to the Saint Jerome carved for the Saint Peter Altarpiece in the Constable Chapel (f ig. 41). While the composition differs slightly, particularly in the addition of a skull rather than a cross, and the positioning of the saint’s legs. While the Constable piece positions its feet in an elegant contrapposto despite the saint’s seated position, the alabaster piece uses a wider stance. Furthermore, the saint’s pose changes from that of a ref lective penitent staring at the cross to the typical melancholia, leaning chin in hand. The key elements of Diego Siloe’s work are present, including the knotted tree and the slabs on the ground, and it would be tempting to think of this piece as a possible f irst version of the Constable Jerome - it even has some traces of polychromy - but its grosser feeling, the windswept beard, the careless depiction of the lion and the aforementioned differences leads one to believe this piece is by a different hand than the master, regardless of the attribution.
IV. Catalogue, 75The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeSaint Jerome in the Desert
10.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c.1520-1528
( The Bode-museum considers the piece of circa 1540, a time which would make no sense as by then Diego Siloe had left Burgos, and the st y le in Spa in had moved on to a much more mannered neoclassicism.)
Size: height: 14.5 in | 38 cm
Material: White marble
Provenance: acquired in 1906
Pre se n t L oca t i on : Böde -museum, Berlin inv. no. 3013
Literature or Documentation:Catalogue:Staat l iche Museen Berl in, Sculp t u re i n t h e Bod e
Museum. Munich, Munich: Prestel, 2008. No. 236, pp.180-181. 181
Much like the previous Saint Jerome, this one is also attributed to Siloe despite the strong differences in the composition and technique from the original piece in the Saint Peter Altarpiece (f ig. 41).
IV. Catalogue, 76The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Diego SiloeSaint John the Evangel ist
11.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: Towards 1523
Dating Evidence: statue from the Saint Peter Altarpiece in the Constable Chapel
Size: height: 54.1 in | 100 cm
width: 29.1 in | 34 cm
Material: Pinewood, painted and gilt
Provenance: currently in situPresent Location: Constable Chapel,
Burgos Cathedral, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Estella Marcos, Los retablos de la capilla del condestable,
128
Gómez-Moreno, Las Águilas del Renacimiento español, 45, 108
Saint John the Evangelist was one of the apostles. He is the presumed author of the fourth gospel, that includes the Apocalypse. His attribute, a book or scroll, is an allusion to these writings. The eagle is John’s attribute, as one of the four apocalyptic beasts of the four evangelists. Saint John as a youth is usually portrayed as a beautiful, slightly effeminate male, with long, f lowing curly hair and beardless.
See cat. 18 for an other version of the young Saint John by Diego.
IV. Catalogue, 77The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeChrist Tied to the Column
12.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c. 1522-1528
Dating Evidence: Similar piece in the Pur i f icat ion A ltarpiece in the Constable Chapel of the Burgos Cathedral
Material: Polychrome wood
In sc r ip t i on s : On t he ba se of t he column, in Roman capital letters, the word “REPLICA” - possibly carved to indicate the column is not of Siloe’s time
Provenance: Made and kept in the Burgos Cathedral
Present Location: Museo Diocesano, Burgos Cathedral (number 130)
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Checa, Fernando. "El Modelo Clásico y los intentos
de reg u lar i zac ión" P i n t u ra y e s c u l t u ra d e l R enac imi en t o e n España . Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 1983. 146, Fig. 122
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimineto español. 127, 128
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. D iego S i l o e . 19, Lam. XXVII, XXX.
Pantorma, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles, 29
Another version of this scene is one of the central f igures of the High Altar on the Constable Chapel (f ig. 26)
Christ tied to the Column is different than the Ecce Homo. Within the story of the Passion, it occurs a bit earlier, probably sometime before the Crowning with Thorns, after the Flagellation of Christ.
See Glossary: flAgellAtion
IV. Catalogue, 78The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeEcce Hommo
13.
Place where it was made: Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c. 1525-1528
Material: Polychrome wood
Provenance: Made by the art ist for the Saint August ine Church in Dueñas near Burgos
Present Location: Iglesia San Agustín de Dueñas, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gomez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego Siloe. 17, Lam. XXIX,
XXXI.
Gomez-Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimiento español, 129.
Pantorba, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles. 29.
Wethey, "The Early Works", 341.
This Ecce Homo in Dueñas relates to Diego’s Christ tied to the Column on the High Altar of the Constable Chapel and Catalogue No. 12. Christ wears the crown of thorns and stands judged before the people.
See Glossary: ecce homo
IV. Catalogue, 79The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeEcce Hommo
14.
Place where it was made: Granada, Spain
Date of work: c.1530s
Material: Polychrome wood
Provenance: Made by the artist for the Andalucian church of San José
Present Location: Iglesia de San José, Granada, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gomez Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimineto
español. 271, 272
Gomez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego de Siloe. 1963. 17, 51, Lam. CXXXIV.
Pantorba, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles. 30.
This much later piece relates to the Ecce Homo Diego carved in Dueñas near Burgos (cat. 13)
The manner in which Christ’s arms reach across his body is reminiscent of the Saint John the Baptist panel by Diego in the Choir Stalls of Saint Benito (f ig. 42)
This piece is still used in processional ceremonies during the Easter week, called “Cristo del Perdón.” This is also the source of the rays radiating from Christ’s head, a later addition to the sculpture.
IV. Catalogue, 80The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
attributed to Diego SiloeArchangel Saint Michael
15.
This gigantic sculpture by Siloe is described by Gómez Moreno as “serene, well grounded and elegant.” Set on a pedestool, the passer-by usually is at eye-level with Saint Michael’s knees, that are carved with two faces of judgement.
The Saint Michael, archangel is the Saint of the Church militant. The scale that Michael holds is skewed, supposed to represent the weight of the soul of the sinner versus the righteous.
Place where it was made: Sasamón, Burgos, Spain
Date of work: c.1525
Dating Evidence: Wethey considers the date to be 1525, as the head is very similar to the Virgin in the Constable Chapel altarpiece
Size: According to Gómez Moreno, the sculpture measures 15 metres.
Material: Wood with paint and gilding
Provenance: In situ, as made by the artist for the Iglesia Santa María Real in Sasamón
Present Locat ion : Ig les ia de Santa Mar ía Rea l, Sasamón, Burgos, Spain
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Las Águilas del Renacimiento
español. 53, 132.
Pantorba, Bernardino de. Imagineros Españoles. 29.
Wethey, Harold E. “On the Early Works," 340.
IV. Catalogue, 81The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Juan Maeda, Diego SiloeArch of Saint Gil
16.
Place where it was made: Granada, Spain
Date of work: 1560
Size: Arc Diameter: 182.7 in | 464 cm
Material: Stone (franca)
Provenance: Originally the façade/entrance of the Parroquia de San Gil, Granada. Other pieces from the façade are in the Museo Arqueológico de Granada.
Present Location: Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada, CE0024/3
Literature or Documentation:Literature: Barrios Rozúa, Juan Manuel. Guía de la Granada desaparecida.
Granada (1999), 211.
Barrios Rozúa, Juan Manuel. Reforma urbana y destrucción del patr imonio histór ico en Granada. Ciudad y desamort ización. Granada (1998), 480-487
Gallego y Burín, Antonio Granada. Guía artística e histórica de la ciudad. Granada (1996), 142,324
Gallego y Burín, Antonio: ´El Museo Arqueológico ,́ Boletín del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Granada, núm. 1, (mayo 1923): 19.
Gómez-Moreno Martínez, Manuel. Las águilas del Renacimiento español. Madrid (1983), 85.
Gomez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego de Siloe (1963) Lam. CXXXII.
Gómez-Moreno Calera, José Manuel. ´Juan de Maeda a la sombra de Siloé. Noticias y ref lexiones sobre su vida y obra ,́ Cuadernos de Arte de la Universidad de Granada, Núm. 23, (1992): 150-151.
This arch, made later in Diego’s life, demonstrates the development of his architectural ornamentation in Granada. It is f lanked by two roundels - circles were popular in Renaissance Italy - with Saints Peter and Paul. The panels over the doorway alternate between the winged cherub heads grotesque f igures greatly reminiscent of Diego’s work on the Escalera Dorada in the Burgos Cathedral. (f ig. 29-31) The main difference lies in the harshly regimented compartmentalising that Diego adds to the ornament.
Orozco Díaz, Emilio. El Museo de Bellas Artes -I- Escultura. Granada, (1975), 9.
Saiz-Pardo Benito, Julia. De la medina al Renacimiento. Granada, (2001), 119-120.
Villafranca Jiménez, María del Mar, Nuevos paseos por Granada y sus contornos, T. II. Granada, (1993), 92.
Catalogues:Gómez-Moreno González, Manuel. Catálogo del Museo Provincial de Bellas
Artes (inédito), Granada, (1899): nº 68.
Orozco Díaz, Emilio. Guía del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Granada. Granada, (1966), 37.
IV. Catalogue, 82The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Diego SiloeVirgin and Child
17.
Place where it was made: Monastery of Saint Jerome, Granada, Spain
Date of work: 1544
Size: height: 54.1 inches | 137.5 cm
Material: Carved wood with traces of polychromy and gilding on the dragons.
Provenance: Commissioned by Duke
Present Locat ion: Museo de Bel las Artes de Granada, Spain (Mus. No. CE/0015)
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Azcárate, José Mª. ´Escultura del siglo XVI´, Ars
Hispaniae. Vol. XIII, Madrid. (1958), 150
Bernales Ballesteros, J. ´El arte del Renacimiento. Escultura, pintura y artes decorativas ,́ Historia del Arte en Andalucía, Sevilla (1989), 119, 121.
Gallego y Burín, Antonio. Granada. Guía art íst ica e histórica de la ciudad, Granada. (1996), 142
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Diego de Siloe. (1963) 51 . Lám. CXXXV, CXXVI.
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Las águilas del Renacimiento español . Bartolomé Ordóñez, Diego S ilóee , Pedro Machuca, Alonso Berruguete. Madrid.(1983), 90.
Gómez-Moreno, Mª Elena Breve historia de la escultura española, Madrid (1951), 85.
Martínez Justicia, María José. La vida de la Virgen en la escultura granadina, Madrid.(1996), 162.
Mateos Gómez, I. López-Yarto Elizalde, A. Prados García, JM (1999): El arte de la Orden Jerónima: Historia y mecenazgo, Bilbao. (1999), 150.
Orozco Díaz, Emilio. El Museo de Bellas Art es -I- Escultura, (1996), 6, 8.
Pantorba, Bernard ino de. Imag in e ros e spañol e s . Madrid (1996), 30.
Quesada, Eduardo (2004): ´Obras del Museo de Bel las Artes de Granada´, Rev i s t a d e l a s instituciones del patrimonio histórico de Andalucía, núm. 3 (abril 2004): 185.
Quesada, Luis. Obras maestras en museos andaluces. Madrid. (1996), 36.
Villafranca Jiménez, María del Mar. Nuevos paseos por Granada y sus contornos T. II. Granada,(1993), 92.
Wethey, H.E. A Madonna and Child by Diego Siloe. Art Bullet in . Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec., 1940): 192, f ig. 3.
Wethey, Harold E. T he Early Work s of Bar tolome Ordoñez and Diego Siloe. 345, Fig. 25
Catalogues: J iménez Díaz, N.; L . Mar t ín-Moreno and L .
Balmaseda. Registro del Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada. (1986-1987), Nº Reg. 15
Orozco Díaz, Emilio (1966): Guía del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Granada. Granada, 31, f ig. 6
This relief ’s composition is very similar to the series of Virgins Diego completed in Burgos, especially from the tomb of Diego Santander. Except here the f igures are shown in full-length, and the Christ child is placed upon a classical column. The treatment of the relief is similar to the Saint John the Baptist from the choir stalls of Saint Benito (f ig. 42)
The f igure is surmounted by dragon grotesques, reminiscent of the f igures used by Diego in the Escalera Dorada of the Burgos Cathedral. (f ig. 26)
IV. Catalogue, 83The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Attributed to Diego SiloeA Young Saint John
18.
Place where it was made: Dominican C o n v e n t S a n t a C r u z R e a l , Granada, Spain
Date of work: 1544
Size: diameter: 21.25 in | 54.5 cm
Material: Pinewood with paint and gilding
Inscriptions: “Sn Juan/Siloe Ft” on halo; possibly added when placed in the monastery’s chapel
Provenance: Monastery of St. Jerome, Granada
Present Locat ion: Museo de Bel las Artes de Granada, Spain (Mus. No. CE/0016)
Literature or Documentation:Literature:Gallego y Burín, Antonio (1996): Granada . Guía
artística e histórica de la ciudad, Granada., p. 142
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel: Diego de Siloe. pp. 51-52 . Lam. CXL (a).
Gómez-Moreno Martínez, Manuel: Las águilas del Renacimiento español. Madrid.1983 , p. 91
Henares Cuéllar, Ignacio (1981): ´Arte´, Granada, Tomo IV, Granada, pp. 1206 y 1208
Orozco Díaz, Emilio (1975): El Museo de Bellas Artes -I- Escultura, p.8
Orozco Díaz, Emilio (1966): Guía del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Granada. Granada, 31-32
Pantorba, Bernardino de (1952): Imagineros españoles, Madrid., p. 30
Sánchez-Mesa Martín, Domingo (1971): Técnica de la escultura policromada granadina, Granada., pp. 77- 78
Catalogues:Catálogo de la exposición (1958): Carl os V y s u
ambiente, Toledo., nº 268
Catálogo de la exposición (1984): La escul tura en Andalucía. Siglos XV al XVIII, Valladolid, nº 24, pp. 84-85 y 88
Catálogo de la exposición (1940): Escultura granadina anterior a Alonso Cano, Granada., nº 33
Orozco Díaz, Emil io (1958): Museo Prov incia l de Bel la s A r tes de Granada. Breve Guía Provisional, nº 4, p. 8
Quesada, Luis (1989): Obras maestras en museos andaluces, Madrid., p. 36
Villafranca Jiménez, María del Mar (1993): ´Visita a los museos de Granada´, Nuevos paseos por Granada y sus contornos, T. II, Granada, p. 92
This roundel of the young Saint John reminds us of a sculpture of the same topic originally in the Saint Peter altarpiece. Saint John is placed in a roundel, one of Diego Siloe’s preferred shapes when he arrives in Granada. The composition is similar to the Saint Peter and Paul in the Arch of Saint Gil. (cat. 16)
V. Appendix, 84The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Support Material: Chronolog y & Maps
Appendix a & b
V. Appendix, 85The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Key events for Diego Siloe, for Spain
Commissions Diego Siloe, with Felipe Bigarny, with Bartolomé Ordoñez, with Gil Siloe
Chronolog y
Appendix a
Date
1483
1492
1492 - 1495
1500-1505
1505-1509
1505
1509
1516
1517
1516-1518
Spring 1519
1519
1519 - 1522
1519 - 1523
1520
1522
1523
1523-1526
1524
1526
1527
1527
1528
Event
Gil Siloe makes model of Miraflores tombs for Queen Isabel
Expulsion of the Moors from Spain, Columbus arrives in New World
Death of Constable of Castile, Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco
Birth of Diego Siloe
Death of Gil Siloe, between 1500 and 1505
Diego as an apprentice in Burgos
Burgos Cathedral Choir Stalls
Pleito with Bigarny about payment for work; DS leaves Burgos
Travels, perhaps through Rome and Florence
Charles takes over Spanish throne as Charles I of Spain
Diego Siloe in Naples
Caracciolo altarpiece, San Giovanni da Carbonara
Madonna and Child Tondo in San Giorgio Maggiore
Tomb of Giovanni Tocco, Naples Cathedral
Choir stalls, Barcelona Cathedral
Ordoñez's illegitimate son is born in Naples, and Diego is the godfather.
Charles meeting of Order of Golden Fleece in Barcelona
July 1519 - Back in Burgos
Tomb of Luis Acuña, Burgos Cathedral
Escalera Dorada (Golden Staircase), Burgos Cathedral
Saint Anne Altarpiece, Visitation Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
Tomb of Diego Santander, Burgos Cathedral
Saint Anne Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
Death of Bartolomé Ordoñez in Carrara, Papal States. Diego Siloe is
mentioned as Ordoñez's socius - partner in his will
Diego and his brother, Juan Siloe request the right to bear arms after an
attempted assault in Burgos
Saint Peter Altarpiece, Constable Chapel, Burgos Cathedral
High Altarpiece (of the Presentation), Constable Chapel
Diego Siloe's middle period: working from Burgos workshop
Altar of Santiago de la Puebla, Salamanca
Cathedral of Jaen (1521-22)
Santa Casilda, Saint Vincent Church, Buezo
Colegio de los Irlandeses, Salamanca
Saint Michael Archangel, Santa María Real Church, Sasamón
Ecce Homo, Iglesia San Agustín, Dueñas
Tomb of bishop Antonio Rojas, Palencia
Tomb of Toribio Gómez de Santiago, Chapel of the Immaculate
Conception, Santiago de la Puebla, Salamanca
Cathedral of Málaga ( January 1527)
Competition for the Santa María del Campo church tower in Burgos
Another pleito with Bigarny over Santa María church tower commission
Sack of Rome
Goes to Granada
Sculptures of Isabel and Ferdinand, Capilla Real, Granada
Chapel and doorways Saint Jerome Monastery, Granada
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Appendix a
1535
1538
1540
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1549
1556
1560
1561
October 22nd, 1563
Design of Granada Cathedral
Tomb of Archbisop Fonseca, Saint Ursula Church, Salamanca
Cloister and Cathedral, Santiago School, Salamanca
Tomb of Bishop Rodrigo de Mercado, Parish of Oñate
Chapel of the New Kings, Toledo
Choir Stalls, Monastery of St. Jerome, Granada
Short trips to Castile
Salvador Chapel, Úbeda for Secretary Francisco de los Cobo
Works in Palencia and Albacete
Diego's first wife, Ana de Santotis, dies.
• 22 March 1543 - The Granada Chapel is completed
S. Salvador Parish Colegiate Chapel Door, Albaicin, Granada
Illora Parish Church, Granada (1544-1546)
1544 - Sells his belongings in Burgos via the notary Bernardo de Santotis
Council of Trent
Montefrío Church
Moves to a home with his new wife, Ana de Bazán, near the Granada Cathedral
Letter to the Duke, Diego refers to himself as "old"
Draws Parroquail Church, Iznalloz, completed by Juan de Maeda
Abdication of the throne by Charles I, succeeded by Philip I of Spain
Draws the Cathedral of Guadix, Guadix
Colegio de Santiago, Salamanca
Church of Saint Gil, Granada
1563 - Death of Diego Siloe
Key events for Diego Siloe, for Spain
Commissions Diego Siloe, with Felipe Bigarny, with Bartolomé Ordoñez, with Gil Siloe
V. Appendix, 87The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
1. Key Places
Appendix b
V. Appendix, 88The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
2. Burgos Cathedral
Appendix b
V. Appendix, 89The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Glossar y of Art Ter ms and Subjects
Appendix 3
V. Appendix, 90The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Main sources: Clarke, Michael. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.and: Hall, James. Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, Revised Edition. London: John Murray, 1996.
Glossar y of Art Ter ms and Subjects
3
AlAbAster: a f ine-grained, smooth, slightly translucent form of gypsum, typically white with marble-like veins, often carved for ornaments. In Spain, where there was a lack of marble avail-able, alabaster was the next best option for tombs and altarpieces
A lA romAnA: term used in many contracts of the late f ifteenth- and early sixteenth-century to refer to surface design inspired by the Italian Renaissance and ancient Roman and Greek forms. Spain imported these ideas into its ornamentation starting in the f ifteenth century. It wasn’t until the time of the likes of Diego Siloe that the pieces integrally understood Renaissance ideals and con-ceptual development beyond ornament, and there may be a clash between what a patron would think was in the Roman style versus the artist.
Anthropocentrism: the idea of man as centre of the universe. This idea developed in the Italian Renaissance to contradict the church’s creed of God as centre of all things.
A priori: a principle prior to any individual or corporeal concern for feeling
bAsement: in architecture, the f loor of a building partly or entirely below ground level
brAvurA: a triumphant conjuring trick, with an emphasis on the obscure, the problematic, and the ambiguous. Often applied to work that seems to play with perception or masterful imitative tech-nique. Phrased in Italian, it has roots in the Italian Renaissance and subsequent styles.
cAlvAry: The hill outside Jerusalem where Christ was crucif ied. Term used in Spain for depic-tions of the crucif ixion.
clAssicAl: Of or related to the ancient cultures of Rome and Greece.
Cimborrio: In Gothic architecture, a structure made to hold up the central nave of the church.
CondestAble/constAble: in the Middle Ages, the highest ranking off icial of a royal household, court, etc. The Constable of Castile was a title coined by King John I of Spain in 1382, and this title invoked the titular with all authority in the absence of the King.
contrApposto: an asymmetrical arrangement of the f igure, where the line of the arm/shoulder area aligns opposite to the legs/hips. The delicate balance between the lines of the body are sup-posed to conceptualise the balance between opposites; passive and active, vertical and horizontal, etc.
cupolA: a small dome adorning a roof or ceiling
ecce homo: “Behold the Man!” ( John 19:4-6) are the words of Pontius Pilate, the Roman gover-nor of Judea, to the Jews gathered outside the judgement hall, after Christ had been scourged and then mocked by soldiers. The passage goes on to say: “The chief priests and their henchmen saw him and shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’” The theme became widely represented during the Renais-sance in two distinct ways, either as a devotional image, showing the crowned head or half-f igure of Christ alone; or as a narrative statement in a town square or on the balcony of Pilate’s judge-ment hall. In Spain, the devotional image reached larger proportions, as the f igure of Christ is shown in
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full-length, in-the-round sculpture. His wrists, often crossed, are usually tied with a chord or chain and he might have a rope around his neck. His body often shows the marks of scourging, and his expression, always a challenge to artists in this context, is generally one of compassion towards the hostility that surrounds him.
euchArist: Also known as the holy communion. In Catholic culture, the pious reach a further level of connection with Christ by eating bread and wine meant to symbolise/incarnate Christ’s body and blood. Some humanist scholars of the Renaissance correlated this communion and Christ’s sacrif ice with the religious experience of pagan sacrif ice.
estilo isAbelino: The Spanish interpretation of the High Gothic, named after Queen Isabel (1451–1504). The same features as Northern art, simply mixed with what already existed in Spain at the time, tracery made out of carved stone and geometrical designs for ceilings.
flAgellAtion of christ: Christ’s scourging, ordered by Pontius Pilate the governor of Judea, just before Christ is led away to be crucif ied. It was customary to show Christ tied to a column, per-haps in the colonnade that formed Pilate’s judgement hall.
frieze: the middle division of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice. Also the decorated band on an internal wall, just below the cornice
gothic: the style of art and architecture in Europe before the Renaissance. Coined by Italian architect and writer Alberti to deride the style of the Middle Ages. It is generally agreed to have appeared in France f irst, at the church of St. Denis in the 1140s. Inspired greatly by nature and f loral imagery, common features of Gothic architecture are the pointed arch, f lying buttress, and elaborate tracery.
grotesques: A fantastic, strange and incongruous hybrid of arabesques and other f igures used in decorations originally inspired by the grottos discovered in Pompeii.
hApsburg: One of the major ruling dynasties of European history, the members of which have included several important art patrons and collectors. The family can be traced back to the 10th century and it established a hereditary monarchy in Austria in the 13th century. From 1452 a link with Rome provided the Hapsburg ruler with the title of “Holy Roman Emperor.” The fam-ily’s territories reached their greatest extent in the 16th century under Charles V (1500-1558) who - as a result of marriage, diplomacy, and conquest - ruled one of the largest empires ever created. It included central Europe, Spain, the Kingdom of Naples and other parts of Italy, most of the Netherlands as well as vast colonial possessions in the Americas.
high gothic: term for the last phase of Gothic architecture before the shift to the Renaissance. At this time, artists and architects create playful diversions from the motifs, including broken tracery or exaggeratedly elongated forms. Its characteristics vary depending on the country.
humAnism: approach or philosophy in life that preaches human values. In the Renaissance, these were believed attainable through the study of classical texts. These beliefs stimulated the educa-tion of individuals at the time, the development of the vernacular language, and the study of the humanities.
imAginArio: a carver in sixteenth century Spain, creating the sculptures for altarpieces, tomb-pieces, as well as reliquaries. They mainly worked in alabaster, wood, and slate, depending on the project. Various artisans often worked together with the sculptor:
ensambladores: created the wooden frame
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aparejadores: painted the f irst layer of gesso over the woodestofadores: painted the polychromy, considered masters as well and sometimes ran an entire workshop. doradores: in charge of the gildingtalladores: carvers, usually reserved for ornamental elements while the master imaginario carved the f igurative elements
in mediA res: a literary term, used to describe a narrative that starts “in the middle” of the action, without much of an introduction
itAliAnism/itAliAnAte: related to the ‘a la romana’ style in Spain, a modern word for the inf lu-ence of ideas and art of the Italian city-states around Europe
Jerome: His full name was Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius, and lived from 342-420 AD. He is one of the four Latin (western) fathers of the church. He is usually grey-haired and bearded, and is portrayed in three distinct ways: as the penitent, (dishevelled, partly naked, kneeling before a crucif ix in the desert, with a stone to beat his breast, and often a skull and an hourglass); as the man of learning (seated at work in his study), and as the Doctor of the Church (standing wearing cardinal’s robes and holding a model of the church). His commonest attributes are the cardinal’s hat and the lion. He supposedly tamed a lion to live in the church he worked. He translated the bible into Latin.
memento mori: Latin phrase meaning ‘remember your mortality.’ Symbols were often included in art to remind the viewer of God’s divine judgement, sending all souls either to heaven or hell.
miseriCordiA: a section of wood on the underside of choir stall chairs, only visible when the chair is folded up, in the standing position. The wood is moulded in a comfortable position to lean against for those standing for long periods of time during mass.
neoclAssicAl – Of, relating to, or characteristic of a neoclassic style, as in the decorative arts. Characterized by the use of delicate but elaborate ornamentation imitated from Greek and Ro-man examples or containing classical allusions, bas-reliefs of classical f igures, motifs of wreaths, torches, caryatids, lyres, and urns. Usually used for the later neoclassicism of the 18th century, but the practice of re-interpreting classical themes runs throughout art history. In Spain, neoclas-sicism is termed clasicismo.
pediment: in classical architecture, a low pitched facade, sometimes containing sculpture. Most are triangular, but there are also “broken” pediments that have an incomplete bottom of the triangle, or no apex at the top.
plAteresque/plAtAresCo: a very ref ined and ornamental style in Spain of the f ifteenth and six-teenth centuries, particularly in architecture. Literally means, “in the style of the silversmith,” and this probably refers to the overlap of forms from silversmiths into architecture. “Hyperdeco-rativism” f irst ornamentally Gothic and then taken over by Renaissance motifs, particularly from Lombardy but holding on to the Gothic ideas of proportion, disregarding Vitruvian (ancient Roman) standards.
pleito: a legal argument in Spain. Brought before a judge and usually pertaining to monetary is-sues, though sometimes it relates to other themes, such as Diego Siloe’s plea for the right to bear arms after his life was threatened in 1526.
polychrome/polychromy: Painting with more than one colour upon a surface, particularly sculp-ture. Often in Spanish art, the painter, known as an estofador intends to aide the realism of the piece.
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predellA: platform or step on which an altar stands. Comes from Italian for ‘kneeling stool’
relief sculpture: from Italian for ‘to raise’ this type of carving intends to take a f lat surface and give it the perception of depth. This relief can either be low-relief, implying very shallow cuts into the surface; or high-/bulk-relief, that extends to great depths and will look different from any angle you look at it. A good example of relief sculpture is Diego Siloe’s Virgin and Child from Granada. (cat. 17)
renAissAnce: originally a French term meaning ‘rebirth.’ Employed to describe the arts in Italy from the early 14th to the mid-16th centuries. By extension, it is also more loosely applied to other European countries of that era. Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt in 1864 writes to stress that this time is a ‘light’ compared to the medieval ‘Dark Ages.’
sculpture in-the-round: three-dimensional sculpture, as opposed to relief sculpture, these pieces are made to be seen from all angles. A good example of a sculpture in-the-round is Diego Siloe’s Saint Michael , archangel in Sasamón (cat. 15).
siloesque/ siloesCo: term formulated by past Spanish scholars to describe trademark features of Diego Siloe’s work. This includes, the bases made up of usually two tiers of rocky, slab-like sur-faces, the knotted, gnarled tree-trunks in the background, and Diego’s characteristic grotesques using bird-like and fantastical creatures combined with cherubs.
stiACCiAto/sChiACCiAto: Italian for “crushed” or “squashed,” this term describes the technique of extreme low relief sculpture, particularly in marble. The term was f irst used to describe the work of Donatello in the f ifteenth century, and subsequently often copied by those who wished to work in the Italianate manner
strApWork: term for decorative element that is derived from . Strapwork parallels the forms of leather straps, creating interesting scrolls and thick panels of material.
trAcery: the elaborate ornamental pattern-work in stone f illing the upper part of a Gothic win-dow.
virtues: The human f igure, generally female and with identifying attributes, personifying ab-stract concepts. A practice well-known in classical antiquity, it was taken up by the Church to teach moral lessons of the virtues versus the vices. The canon of the Christian virtues in the Mid-dle Ages was of three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity, and the four cardinal virtues of Justice, Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance. Often contrasted with seven vices.
VI. Bibliography, 94The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Selected Bibliog raphy
VI.
VI. Bibliography, 95The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Bibliog raphy
VI.
ArA gil, Clementina Julia. En torno al escultor Alejo de Vahía (1490-1510). Valladolid:
Universidad de Valladolid, 1974.
ArAuJo, Fernando. Historia de la escultura en España de principios del siglo XVI hasta f ines del
XVIII y causas de su decadencia. Valencia : Librerías “París-Valencia”: 1992.
Arnould, AlAin And JeAn michel mAssing. Splendours of Flanders. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, The Fitzwilliam Museum, 1993.
bArrón gArcíA, Aurelio A. “Un retablo de Diego de Siloe para San Román de Burgos.”
Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre Gil Siloe y la escultura de su época. Burgos: Aldecoa,
2001. 583-585
Catálogo general de la exposición de arte retrospectivo, VII centenario de la catedral de Burgos,
1921. Burgos: El Monte Carmelo, 1926.
cAtedrAl de burgos. Capilla de la Concepción y Santa Ana. Burgos: Fundación Ana Mata
Manzanedo, 2001.
checA, Fernando. Pintura y escultura del Renacimiento en España 1450-1600. Madrid:
Ediciones Cátedra, 1983.
estellA mArcos, Margarita. Escultura castellana del Siglo XVI. Madrid : Información y
Revistas, D.L. 1991
estellA mArcos, Margarita. La imaginería de los retablos de la Capilla del Condestable.
Burgos: Cabildo Metropolitano, Asociación de Amigos de la Catedral, 1995.
fernández, Margarita. Los grutescos en la arquitectura española del Protorrenacimiento.
Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana, 1987
fernández gAllArdo, Luis. Alonso de Cartagena: Iglesia Politica y cultura en la Castilla del
Siglo XV. Madrid: Department of Medieval History of Universidad Complutense,
1998.
VI. Bibliography, 96The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
VI.
gArcíA chico, Esteban. Los grandes imagineros en el Museo Nacional de Escultura. Valladolid:
Gráficos Andrés Martín, 1965
geers, G.J. De Renaissance in Spanje: kultuur, litteratuur, leven. Zutphen: W. J. Thieme & co,
1932.
gómez moreno, Manuel. Las águilas del Renacimiento español Bartolomé Ordóñez, Diego Siloe,
Pedro Machuca, Alonso Berruguete. Madrid: C.S.I.C., Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1941.
gómez moreno, Manuel. Diego Siloe: Homenaje en el IV centenario de su muerte. Granada:
Universidad de Granada, 1963.
gómez moreno, María Elena. Bartolomé Ordóñez. Madrid: Instituto Diego Velazquez,
1956.
hernández redondo, José Ignacio. “Diego Siloe, aprendiz destacado en el taller de
Felipe Bigarny.” Locus Amoenus. (2000-2001): 101-116.
holAndA, Francisco de. Conversaciones con Miguel Ángel. Buenos Aires: La Reja, 1956
heiJden, Chris van der. De zwarte Renaissance: Spanje en de wereld 1492-1563. Amsterdam:
Uitgeverij Contact, 2008.
ibáñez pérez, Alberto C.; Payo Hernanz, René Jesús. Del Gótico al Renacimiento. Artistas
burgaleses entre 1450 y 1600. Burgos: Cajacírculo, 2008.
mArques, Luis. “Una Paradoja Sobre las Relaciones Entre Italia y España en el
Renacimiento” El modelo italiano en la artes plásticas de la peninsula Ibérica durante el
Renacimiento. Universidad de Valladolid, 2004. 77-97
mArtínez burgos, Matías. Catálogo del Museo Arqueológivo Provincial de Burgos. Madrid:
Impresora Góngora, 1935.
mArtín gonzález, Juan José. El escultor en el siglo de oro. Madrid : Real Academia de
Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 1985
mArtín gonzález, Juan José, La imaginería de los retablos de la Capilla del Condestable
de la Catedral de Burgos , Archivo español de arte, 68:272 (1995:oct./dic.) p.439-441.
migliAccio, Luciano. “Precisiones sobre la actividad de Bartolomé Ordóñez en Italia y la
VI. Bibliography, 97The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
VI.
recepción del Renacimiento italiano en la península Ibérica.” El Modelo Italiano en las
Artes Plásticas de la Península Ibérica durante el Renacimiento. Valladolid: Universidad de
Valladolid, 2004. 377-392.
morán rubio, Manuela. “Un relieve de San Jerónimo (Covarrubias) próximo a Diego de
Siloe.” Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología. No. 46 (1908)
orozco díAz, Emilio. Guía del museo provincial de bellas artes de Granada. Madrid:
Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 1966
orozco díAz, Emilio. La Capilla Real de Granada. Granada: Albaicin/ Sadea: 1968.
pAntorbA, Bernardino de. Imagineros españoles: estudio histórico y crítico. Madrid: Blass, 1952
peredA, Felipe. Las imágenes de la discordia: política y poética de la imagen sagrada en la España
del cuatrocientos. Madrid: Marcial Pons Historia, 2007
proske, Beatrice Gilman. Castilian Sculpture: Gothic to Renaissance. New York: Hispanic
Society of America, 1951.
quesAdA, Francesc Ruiz. La pintura gótica hispanof lamenca: Bartolomé Bermejo y su época,
Barcelona, Bilbao: Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2003.
redondo cAnterA, María José, ed. El modelo italiano en las artes plásticas de la península
Ibérica durante el renacimiento. Valladolid: Secretaria de Publicaciones e Intercambio
Editorial Universidad de Valladolid, 2004
redondo cAnterA, María José. El sepulcro en España el el Siglo XVI: tipología e iconografía.
Madrid: Centro Nacional de Informacion y Documentacion de Patrimonio Histórico,
1987.
redondo cAnterA, María José. “El sepulcro de Sixto IV y su inf luencia en la
escultura del Renacimiento en España.” Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y
Arqueología:BSAA. Tomo 52. (1986): 271-282.
redondo cAnterA, Maria Jose. Diego Siloe, autor del sepulcro de Antonio de Rojas.
río, Isabel de. El escultor Felipe Bigarny 1491-1542. Valladolid: Consejería de Educación y
Cultura, 2001
VI. Bibliography, 98The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
VI.
rosenthAl, Earl E. Diego Siloe: árquitecto de la Catedral de Granada. Granada: Universidad
de Granada: 1966.
sierrA delgAdo, Ricardo. Diego de Siloe y la nueva fábrica de la Sacristía Mayor de la Catedral
de Sevilla. Sevilla: Tecnographic, 2008.
sousA, R.W. “The View of the Artist in Francisco de Holanda’s ‘Dialogues’.” Luso-
Brazilian Review 15 (1978): 40-47
trusted, M. Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the post-medieval Spanish Sculpture in Wood,
Terracotta, Alabaster, Marble, Stone, Lead and Jet in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996.
WAntoch, Hans. Spanien, das Land ohne Renaissance. Munchen: George Muller, 1927.
Wethey, H. E. Wethey, Harold E. “A Madonna and Child by Diego de Siloe.” Art Bulletin.
Xxii, (1940), 190-196
Wethey, H. E.. ‘The early works of Bartolome Ordoñez and Diego de Siloe.’ Art Bulletin.
xxv. (1943): 226-238.
yArzA luAces, Joaquín. Gil de Siloe. Madrid: Grupo 16, 1991.
yArzA luAces, Joaquín. Gil Siloe: El Retablo de la Concepción en la capilla del obispo Acuña.
Burgos: Catedral de Burgos, 2000.
zAlAmA rodríguez, Miguel Ángel. “Diego de Siloe y la torre de Santa María del
Campo.” Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología, Tomo 56 (1990): 404-414.
zAlAmA rodríguez, Miguel Ángel. “Diego y Juan de Siloe: un dato para su biografía.”
Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología. Tomo 58. (1992): 375-377.
VII. Acknowledgements, 99The Sculpture of Diego Siloe | B. Bröcker
Acknowledgements
VII.
This massive undertaking would not have been possible over a period of six months without the help of various people:
My parents, Marcus and Jorien, gave me the possibility to take this urge for learning about the history of art to a new level. I am blessed.
Oma Ted, omdat je eigenlijk het beste wist hoe leuk het is ‘tussen kunst en kitsch.’
Marika Leino, a wonderful advisor and supporter of my idea from when it was just a search for somewhere I could use my Spanish, to what turned out to be a magical trip to Spain; and thank you for our last thesis advisory session sitting on a Georgian park bench;
Rebecca Lyons, for a bit of a writing reality check, and my new love for the words ‘Roman-ticism’ and ‘grotesque’;
Luis Marte, photographer extraordinaire and a great friend in Madrid;
Gonzalo García for the help f inding myself (and Diego) in Granada;
Mathilde, Jyah, and Claudia for helping me start my search in Paris;
Jan Lap for spotting little details and describing Church secrets;
Professors Noël Claro, Julia Dault, Dr. Lisa Pincus, Bob Seidman, Anna Akbari, Nixi Cura, and innumerable more who have believed in what I do even when I don’t know what I’m doing;
Natasha Taylor for her marvellous collection of books;
Tati and Nashe for helping me settle in London at the very beginning, Cristina for a daily dose of Spanish. Rachel for the food and the short sentences, Liz for the reality checks and the great break ideas, Ellen for the attentiveness, Katie for the giggles, Adria for the muffins and the smile, Yolanda for crepes and (Broecker, 2010), Lucas for geographical information, Elizabeth for the self-esteem boosts when I think I’m writing gibberish;
Countless sources of inspiration along the way;
My two special Skype proofreaders (you know who you are),
And the f inal product speaks for itself, I can’t believe it’s all here.