16 March 2011

Course 

THE CATHEDRAL OF PAMPLONA. A VIEW FROM THE 21ST CENTURY

Funerary Sculpture. Bishops, kings and nobles

Ms. Clara Fernández-Ladreda Aguadé.
University of Navarra

There are three notable monuments: the tomb of King Carlos III of Navarre and his wife, the tomb of the bishop of Pamplona Sancho Sánchez de Oteiza and the tomb of the knight Leonel de Garro and his wife. All three are attributed to Jehan de Lome and his circle.

The royal tomb is a work core topic of the period, not only in Navarre and Spain but also in Europe. There is abundant written information, from which we know that it was executed between the last months of 1413 and July 1419, in two phases, the first completed in June 1414 -very brief- and the second begun in February 1416 -much longer-.

The direction, the overall plan and the most important parts are due to Jehan de Lome, a sculptor originally from the southern Netherlands (now Belgium), either from Tournai or from Lomme (a suburb of Liège), who was hired specifically by the king. Anequin de Sora and Michel de Reims, from the southern Netherlands and France respectively, collaborated with him throughout the process. Johan of Lisla (Lille), Vincent Huyard and Johan of Burgundy were also involved in the first stage. In the second, Colin of Rheims, Johan de la Gardia of Picardy and Johanto of Toulouse.

A free-standing sepulchral bed, with the recumbents on the lid and the funeral procession of the plorants unfolding on the sides. Dark-coloured polychrome limestone was used for the bed and alabaster for the sculptures and their complements (banners and canopies).

The recumbents are the work of staff de Lome and give the guideline of his style. The plorantes, belonging to two categories - ecclesiastics and laymen - and grouped in pairs, can be formally divided into two groups plus an isolated example. The first is made up of the ecclesiastics, who are closely related to each other and to the recumbents, and can therefore be attributed to Lome's collaborators, who closely followed their master and even to the artist himself. A second group is made up of lay people, different from both the previous group and the recumbents, but closely related to each other, so they can be attributed to Lome's collaborators who display a certain stylistic independence with respect to their master. Finally, there is a plorante whose style differs from the two groups and can be considered genuinely Burgundian and Slutherian.

As for the models, we believe - contrary to what has sometimes been claimed - that Lome knew and took into account the tomb of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the work of Claus Sluter and Claus de Werve, but also the tomb of Charles V of France and his wife for Saint-Denis by André Beauneveu and Jean de Liège.

The tomb of Sancho Sánchez de Oteiza, was probably made between 1419 and 1422. It has an arcosolium typology with the recumbent on the lid surrounded by the funeral cortege, probably based on the tomb of Bishop Asiain - originally it would also have been painted and polychromed like this one - but the specific formula seems to be inspired by the window of the camara luenga of the castle of Olite, the work of Lome and his workshop.

The recumbent is very similar to that of Charles III - made by Lome - and to some of the ecclesiastical plorants in the same tomb - due to very close collaborators -, so it could be attributed to the artist himself. The cortege is of inferior quality and would be the work of disciples.

The Garro tomb completed in 1422, is of the same type, but has partially preserved the painting and polychromy.
Stylistically, the recumbents are linked to works by Lome and his close collaborators - the recumbents of Carlos III and Teresa Palomeque, and the statue of Doña Blanca - and may be attributed to Lome himself. The other sculptures - Calvary, saints and God the Father - are very different and are closely related to Burgundian sculpture, with precedents or parallels between the works of Marville, Sluter and Werve.

Detail of the Sepulchre of Charles III the Noble. Slutherian plan
Photo: Carlos Martínez Álava