reference letter Juan de Villarreal (1517-1584) was one of the most multifaceted figures in the artistic panorama of Navarre in the second half of the sixteenth century, who exercised his professional degree program as a stonemason, carver, artilleryman and overseer of ecclesiastical works of the bishopric of Pamplona.

He was born in 1517 in Villarreal de Urrechua (Guipuzcoa), toponymic name that he took as surname when he arrived in Pamplona, since in the Guipuzcoan territories he was always called by his real name, San Juan de Altuna. Son of Pedro de Altuna, a craftsman dedicated to leather work , and María de Alzola, in 1542 he married María Juana de Iturbe, with whom he had five children, of whom only one, Miguel de Altuna (1549-1601), followed his official document. Therefore, Villarreal's contact with the world of construction was not endogamous, as was the case with most of the artists of the average and modern ages.

Villarreal's first documented work on Navarre soil is the façade of the old hospital of Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia in Pamplona (now the Museum of Navarre), dated 1556 and undertaken under the patronage of Remiro de Goñi, archdeacon of the Table of the Pamplona cathedral. In this work he showed off his knowledge of the architectural treatises of the time, which he used as an excellent repertoire of images from which to draw inspiration. This is reflected in the anthropomorphic stipes arranged on the sides of the semicircular arch of access, human-shaped supports inspired by the covers of the Third and Fourth Book of Architecture by Sebastiano Serlio, published in Toledo in 1552 (fig. 1), which denote his skill as a carver in the ornamental work of work of the stone with a Renaissance repertoire.

position At least since 1558 he held the position of master of artillery of the king in Navarre, which reveals his experience in the field of military architecture. In that year he provided the layout of the belena of Lumbier, with the elevation of the walls of the existing houses on both sides of the street, which so far is the first graphic document located out of his hands, preserved in the file General of Navarra. He also took part in engineering works, as exemplified by the layout of the Asiáin bridge.

In the artistic panorama of 16th century Navarre, only the most qualified masters of construction had the skill to design traces, capturing on paper or parchment the theoretical conception of the architectural project . Among them were the overseers of ecclesiastical works of the Pamplona bishopric, professionals in the world of the arts at the service of the Church who carried out their work in the territories of Navarre and Guipuzcoa that depended on the Pamplona diocese. The first of whom there is written evidence is Villarreal, who held the official document from at least 1563 until his death in 1584.

This professional figure was established in the Synodal Constitutions of the Bishopric of Pamplona, compiled by the prelate Bernardo de Rojas (1591), which was internship decades earlier. The exercise of the overseer in the architectural field required drawing up the layout and approve the plans of any building dependent on the bishopric, such as parishes, hermitages, cemeteries, abbey and vicarage houses. He also had to visit the works to make sure that they were properly executed according to the established contract agreement , issue reports or evaluate the work carried out by the masters. On occasions Villarreal estimated constructions in the company of relevant artists who were working in Navarre. Thus, in 1576 he appraised the works carried out in the monastery of Leyre together with the Genoese Juan Luis de Musante, master builder of royal works in the service of Philip II, who since 1575 directed the Building of the citadel designed by the engineer of King Jacobo Palear Fratín. In 1577 Musante became related to Villarreal by marrying his daughter Catalina, as was customary in the professional inbreeding of the time.

Villarreal not only intervened in matters related to the field of stonework and masonry, but also in other artistic fields different from the world of construction, such as artistic pieces of liturgical furnishings. In fact, the first time we have documented him as overseer is in 1563 on the occasion of the appraisal of the main altarpiece of the church of Mués, a supervisory task that he carried out on numerous occasions, also in the field of painting together with Miguel de Aldaz. He also provided the design for the execution of altarpieces, such as that of San Miguel Arcángel de Sarría, Ániz (1577), Sarriguren, the main altarpiece of San Vicente de San Sebastián (1583) or the tabernacle of Ciga (1576), which reveals his ability to design these architectural-sculptural pieces, as did other renowned architects in the 16th century, such as Juan de Herrera when he designed the tabernacle of the main altarpiece of the basilica of San Lorenzo del Escorial.

A fundamental element that defined the professional status of the Renaissance architect, in addition to the knowledge of artistic theory, was his training at design. In fact, the architect's ability to draw lines was one of the fundamental characteristics that differentiated him from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries onwards from the traditional master mason and masonry worker, who was considered a craftsman working on site with practical training. This was expressed by Alberti and Diego de Sagredo in their treatises on artistic theory, where they defined architecture as a liberal art that required ingenuity. To devise the layout meant, therefore, to exercise this new concept of master planner, independently of the subsequent direction and material execution of the factory, which could only be carried out by the most qualified construction professionals, endowed with a A capacity for measurements, calculations and designs, capturing in each drawing the most appropriate solution.

Villarreal's gifts for the creation of architectural drawings are evidenced by the numerous tracings he provided in the 1560s for the parish churches of Villafranca, Caparroso, Izu, Elizondo, Arrayoz, Ciga, Garísoain, Errazu, Villanueva de Yerri and Olza (fig. 2), among others. An activity that grew in the 1570s, providing designs for the parish of Sagüés (1570), the monastery of Irache (1570), the Wayside Cross and head of the parish of Larraga (1571), the head of the church of Ciga (1571), the sacristy of the cathedral of Pamplona (1572) or the church of Oyarzun in Guipuzcoa (1574). To this were added the traces of the parish towers of Azoz (1579), Monteagudo (1578), Arre (1579), Anchóriz (1580), Cildoz (1581), or of houses of the primicia such as those of Olloqui (1576) and Cildoz (1581).

Most of the drawings he executed were made on paper, in one color ink, on which he wrote explanatory inscriptions, measurements and graphic scales, along with his signature. file An illustrative example for this text is the design he made in 1577 for the renovation of the nave of the medieval church of San Miguel de Artazu, which belongs to the funds of the Diocesan Museum of Pamplona (fig. 3). The plan of the single-nave church, articulated in three bays, identified in the drawing as a chapel, was to be covered with a ribbed vault with five keystones, which formally resembles a four-pointed star. To his right Villarreal outlined the elevation of the bell tower to be built, with the quartering of ashlars, the two semicircular openings for the bells and the roof topped by a cross. A project that allows us to see the building that existed at the beginning of 1570, of which hardly any remains are left after the remodeling it underwent later.

Villarreal's professional prestige even led him to draw designs for towns that did not belong to the Pamplona diocese. Thus, in 1577 he moved by order of the Royal Navarrese committee to Monteagudo to facilitate the model of the bell tower that those responsible for the parish wanted to build higher. This work was opposed by the Beaumont family, as castle governors, given the proximity of the church to the fortress, from whose bell tower they could be attacked in case of conflict. For this reason, Villarreal also drew up a general view of the town for the lords of the town, in which the most important buildings are identified, such as the centralized castle of design that emerges on the rock and the church in the center of the urban center surrounded by houses (fig. 4). A very detailed drawing of great historical value for the reconstruction of the monumental landscape of Monteagudo at the end of the 16th century, along the lines of the panoramic views of Hispanic cities and towns made by other Renaissance artists, such as those of the Flemish Anton Van den Wyngaerde between 1562 and 1570 commissioned by Philip II. His work as a surveyor also led him to make simpler topographical plans, such as those of Izcue (1581), Uterga and Olandáin (c. 1579-80).

Juan de Villarreal was succeeded as overseer of works by his son Miguel de Altuna (1584-†1601), who received from his father the first theoretical and practical knowledge of official document, becoming position after his death of the completion of the unfinished works left unfinished by his father, for example, in the churches of Ibiricu (fig. 5), Huarte, Ardanaz (Egüés), Barañáin and Artica.

At final, Juan de Villarreal was one of the most outstanding figures of Navarrese architecture in the second third of the 16th century. With his architectural projects, he set the artistic guidelines for Navarrese architecture in the last third of the 16th century, with a strong presence of the late Gothic tradition in the floor plans, generally of a nave with chapels, and a preference for ribbed vault coverings of different designs, as opposed to the scarce assimilation of the more avant-garde classicist formulas, which hardly took hold in the area.