18 July 2007
Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series
AROUND THE EXHIBITION FITERO: THE BEQUEST OF A MONASTERY
Silverware and decorative arts
D. Ignacio Miguéliz Valcarlos
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art
The monastery of Santa María la Real de Fitero conserved a large part of its artistic heritage thanks to the fact that the church became the parish church of the village after the disentailment of the Mendizábal government in 1836.
The status of Fitero between three kingdoms favoured the arrival of masters from many different places. Furthermore, the fact that it did not belong to any diocese favoured the arrival of artists from different origins who did not have to justify their presence to diocesan authorities or guilds. contact Likewise, the fact that the abbot's dignity was provided by the king by virtue of the royal board of trustees , brought with it the arrival in Fitero of illustrious figures who breathed airs that were foreign to the land and, in general, more in tune with artistic novelties, which meant that the monastery treasured a series of unique pieces that went beyond the strictly regional. Likewise, the fact that the monastery's income was divided in 1566 into three parts, one for the Abbot, another for the community and another for the factory, meant that the latter was awarded a not inconsiderable amount of income to cover the cost of new works.
"Eucharistic Chest", ca. 1220
Among the rich collection of works of art that were kept in the church, the silverware heritage stands out, with a large selection of pieces ranging from the founding dates of the monastery to the 19th century. However, most of the rich collection of objects recorded in the inventories over the centuries has not been preserved, partly because they were melted down to make new pieces, but above all due to the sale of such works by 19th century town councils at times of exceptional circumstances, one of the most important being in 1811, at the height of the French Civil War, when the monastery's silver was required to defray war expenses, with three sales taking place. Despite these sales, works of great importance have survived to the present day, some of them from foreign workshops, such as the silver filigree reliquary urn from Cuban workshops, or the silver naveta with a nautilus cup, a Germanic piece dating from the last quarter of the 16th century, It is a type of piece that became very popular from the middle of the 16th century onwards, spreading throughout large parts of Europe as the taste for treasuring rare, exotic and exquisite objects, natural or artificial, grew, linked to eclectic collecting and the chambers of wonders typical of Mannerism. In addition to these works, the present exhibition displays silver pieces from other institutions that are related to San Raimundo de Fitero, the founder of this monastery, such as the two silver reliquary chests from the octagon of Toledo Cathedral and the Calatravas de Moralzarzal monastery, made around 1721-1722, together with a third, now lost, to distribute the relics of the saint kept in the Montesión monastery.
"Naveta", third quarter of the 16th c.
Considered to be one of the greatest works of enamelled goldsmithery in Navarre is a late Romanesque Eucharistic chest, dated around 1200, which shows an uneven treatment in the quality of invoice on its different sides, so it could be either a serial work in the prolific workshops of Limoges, or the work of an itinerant workshop that applied the Limousin technique between Silos and Navarre. Also of great importance is the collection of medieval arches, which form an exceptional group of pieces dating between the 9th and 14th centuries, made up of four chests or boxes, two in Hispano-Muslim ivory and two in wood, one Romanesque and the other Gothic. Several of these pieces were found in 1927 inside two gilded and stewed wooden chests, made around 1592 by Felices de Cáceres and other collaborators from the workshop of Roland de Moys. These chests were made specifically to preserve these reliquary chests and were placed in the church tower from the Holy Cross in May to September to ward off summer storms.
"Terno", second quarter of the 17th c.
The collection of ornaments preserved in the church is also numerous, reflecting the rich collection that existed in the past, and its existence is recorded, as well as the donation of numerous pieces in the different inventories and documents of the monastery. A turning point was the purchase in the middle of the 17th century of numerous altar frontals for the new altarpieces that were made at this time. An interesting piece is the terno made by the Carmelite mothers of San José de Pamplona, on whose production the mothers placed great emphasis, especially Mother Graciosa de los Ángeles, to the point that the Father Provincial on one of his visits had to forbid the nuns to get up at four o'clock in the morning to work on it. It is worth noting that the cost of this robe was an astronomical 1,000 ducats, when the main altarpiece, the work of Roland de Moys, cost 2,200 ducats. Other pieces are also on display, such as a Eucharistic hanging from 1770, one of the most outstanding embroidered works from the 18th century still preserved in Navarre, and a mid-18th century robe from the Calatravas de Moralzarzal monastery, which according to tradition in the convent was premiered on the day of the consecration of the altarpiece and altar of San Raimundo in that monastery.