7 October 2010

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

ART AND ARTISTS IN CASCANTE: 16TH-17TH CENTURIES

The missing main altarpiece of the Parish Church of the Assumption in Cascante

Mr. Jesús Criado Mainar.
University of Zaragoza

The missing main altarpiece of the parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin of Cascante is the most outstanding sculptural creation in the Ribera de Navarra region during the Romanesque period. Destroyed in the fire that destroyed the church on the night of 14-15 May 1940, we know what it looked like from a poor quality photograph of the whole and the series of eight images that Georg Weise included in his research on the Romanesque sculpture of northern Spain, published in Tübingen in 1959. To this must be added the descriptions that different scholars of Navarrese art, and in particular Tomás Biurrun, made before its disappearance.

To award the contract, the church's aldermen called a competition attended by Pedro González de San Pedro, Ambrosio Bengoechea and Juan Jiménez de Alsasua. The sculptor from Burgos, García de Arredondo, who acted as an expert for the commissioners, decided in favour of the first two masters, with whom the contract was signed on 20 April 1592. The deadline execution period was set at five years and the price of the work at 7,500 ducats, a truly astronomical sum. The construction process was punctuated by constant incidents, as neither González nor Bengoechea, former disciples of Juan de Anchieta, willingly agreed to share the business. After the planned five years had passed, our altarpiece was far from completion and the commissioners denounced the architects before the Royal Courts of Navarre, thus initiating a juicy lawsuit. The work was finally completed in 1601.

The altarpiece of the Assumption remained "blank", i.e. unpolychromed. This makes its loss all the more painful, since its excellent quality made it a cornerstone in the artistic production of both masters, a basic element in understanding and distinguishing their respective styles. It can be said that this great machine was one of the main achievements of the second generation of Navarrese Romanesque sculpture, in which the bitter rivalry between the masters who shared its materialisation was transformed into a virtue to give birth to a unique work of art that has now unfortunately been destroyed.
 

Former main altarpiece of the parish church of Cascante. 1592-1601
Pedro González de San Pedro and Ambrosio Bengoechea

Detail of the old main altarpiece of the parish church of Cacante. 1592-1601
Pedro González de San Pedro and Ambrosio Bengoechea