25 June

Late Gothic altarpieces of the Pamplona Cathedral

Clara Fernández-Ladreda Aguadé
University of Navarra

The cathedral of Pamplona preserves two interesting late Gothic altarpieces, that of the Doubt of Saint Thomas and that of Christ or of the prophets.

The altarpiece of Santo Tomas was completed by 1507, as evidenced by the registration that accompanies it, and the altarpiece of the Christ is probably contemporary. Both are mixed, combining painting and sculpture, since the main figures are carvings.

It is known with certainty, from the aforementioned registration, that the first was commissioned by Pedro Marcilla de Caparroso and it seems plausible that the second was also commissioned by Pedro Marcilla de Caparroso. They were destined for the same site, the funerary chapel of the Marcilla de Caparroso family, located in the southernmost section of the ambulatory of the cathedral, above the crypt of the Romanesque church, which was reused to locate the family tombs. But only the first remains in situ, while that of Christ has been moved to the chapel of Santa Cristina, attached to the north side of the body of the naves.

The promoter, Pedro Marcilla de Caparroso, belonged to a family of wealthy merchants settled in the Navarrería neighborhood. He had a very active life, combining commercial activities with work as an official of the Crown in the field of finance and the performance of relevant political positions. The first news about him dates back to 1481, when King Francisco Febo appointed him life guardian of the currency of Navarre. In 1485, through an exchange with the cathedral chapter, he became the owner of the mill called Garcí-Marra or San Miguel -which from then on became known as Caparroso- whose ruins can be seen on the banks of the Arga next to the footbridges of the Magdalena Bridge, where he ordered the following registration to be placed: "This building belongs to Pedro Caparroso y Marcilla, report of his lineage and his witness value". In 1487 he is listed as a maker or worker of the cathedral of Pamplona. In 1491 he was appointed by the kings as royal advisor and oidor de comptos, position , which he would carry out until 1517. By 1507 he had been named knight, which means that he had attained nobility. After the Castilian conquest of Navarre, he continued his upward trajectory. In 1513 he was alderman of the city of Pamplona and in 1515 he was elected mayor. The last news is that of his Withdrawal to the post of oidor de comptos in 1517 -substituted by his son Antón-, which could indicate a certain deterioration of his physical condition.

The altarpiece of Santo Tomás consists of a bench with seven compartments, a body of five lanes -the central one being the highest- with two stories, and a dust cap. Both the compartments of the bench and the lanes of the body are separated by pilasters, topped in the case of the body by pinnacles. In addition, each of the body panels is crowned with delicate openwork tracery design with late Gothic forms.

As for the iconography, on the bench, from left to right, we find: the Prayer in the Garden, the Arrest or Kiss of Judas with St. Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus, the Flagellation, Jesus on the way to Calvary, Preparation of the Cross, Calvary and the Lamentations before the dead Christ.

In the body, in the streets to the left of the viewer, scenes of the Infancy of Christ have been represented and, in those to the right, of his glorification, although the order of placement is quite arbitrary and no clear reading direction can be appreciated, perhaps as a consequence of some later modification. In those on the left we have the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity with the advertisement to the shepherds and Epiphany. On the right: the Descent into limbo, the appearance of Christ to his mother, Ascension and Pentecost. In the central street, on the upper floor, the Coronation of the Virgin.

In the upper part of the dust cover, the Holy Face is flanked by four kneeling angels, two on each side with the instruments of the Passion. Those on Christ's right carry one the cross and the crown of thorns, and another the nails and the tongs; those on the left, one the stick with the sponge and the lance, and another the column and the whip.

Next, to the right and left, the apostles, identifiable by the phylacteries with their names, standing, luxuriously dressed and with their corresponding attributes. To the right of the Santa Faz, from top to bottom, St. Peter with the keys, St. Andrew with the cross, St. James the Greater dressed as a pilgrim with staff, hat and scarcela, St. John the Evangelist with the chalice with the dragon, St. James the Less with the fuller's mallet and St. Philip with the cross. On the left, also from top to bottom: St. Paul with sword, St. Bartholomew with knife and book, St. Matthew with book and spear, St. Jude Thaddeus with scimitar, St. Matthias with halberd and St. Thomas with square.

Beneath them, in the lower part of the dust cover, on one side the donor accompanied by his son Antón and on the other his wife accompanied by his daughter, kneeling in prayerful attitude, all of them carrying phylacteries with inscriptions. Pedro Marcilla's inscription reads: Miserere mei Domine, miserere mei, quoniam in te confidit anima mea (Psalm 56:2) -Havemercy on me, Lord, have mercy, for in you my soul trusts-.That of his son Anton: Dominus iluminatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo (Psalm 26:1)-TheLord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?That of the bride: In te, Domine, speravit, non confundar in aeternum (Psalm 30:2) -Toyou, Lord, I take refuge, let me never be disappointed.That of the daughter: Ruas tuas, Domine, demostra mihi, et semitas tuas doce me (Psalm 24:4) -Lord, teach me your ways, show me your paths-.In all cases these are texts taken from the Psalms in which trust in God is expressed, his financial aid is invoked and his mercy is begged for. All very appropriate for a funeral chapel.

Below the figures of the donors there are two coats of arms. The one placed under the donor corresponds to the Marcilla family; the one placed under his wife to the Uriz family, to which the lady must have belonged. Four other coats of arms are located in the spandrels of the niche of the owner and in the upper part of the pilasters that flank the body: three of them present a match of the arms of the Marcilla and Uriz families. Under the coats of arms of the guardapolvo we find a monogram: capital M, capital P, prolonged in C, plus lowercase a and r inscribed inside the M. Reading: Petrus Marcilla de Caparroso, auditor regni.

Most of the scenes are based on canonical texts of the New Testament, specifically from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles -the latter for the Ascension and Pentecost- and do not present anything particular from the iconographic point of view. Among the exceptions, the Descent of Christ to Limbo -taken from the apocryphal text of the so-called conference proceedings of Pilate or Gospel of Nicodemus, very popularized by the "Golden Legend"-, the Apparition of Christ to his mother -which appears insinuated in a work of St. Ambrose-, the Treatise of the Virgins and the Treatise of the Virgins -which appears in the Gospel of the Virgin Mary, the Treatise of the Virgins and expressly mentioned in the "Golden Legend" - and the Coronation of the Virgin - taken from the first liturgical Sermon of St. Bernard, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.

Finally, it should be noted that the choice of the episode of the Doubt of Saint Thomas -and not of the saint himself- to preside over the altarpiece is most unusual, to the point that perhaps there is no other case. It was undoubtedly decided by the commissioner and should be interpreted as a reaffirmation of the reality of the Resurrection of Christ, a guarantee of our own, making it particularly appropriate for presiding over a funerary chapel.

Moreover, according to procedure usual at the time, many of the scenes are based on engravings by Israel van Meckenem: (ca. 1440-1503), German engraver, disciple of the master E. S., who copied much of his master's work and that of Martin Schongauer, although he also has original work.

This is a late Gothic work, with the typical features of this style: naturalism, detail, vivid colors and angular folds. But it is undoubtedly the highest quality work of this style preserved in Navarre, whose author shows great mastery in all aspects: complex compositions, careful backgrounds -in which, unlike Díaz de Oviedo, for example, he gives preference to landscape and architectural frames- and characters treated with great delicacy. Due to its characteristics, it could be attributed to a workshop outside Navarre.

On the other hand, the altarpiece of Christ or of the Prophets presents a very peculiar structure, as it consists only of a body crowned by a baldachin. The whole, with four streets and three floors plus the baldachin, is organized around the central Christ and his great cross. Contrary to what was said at the time, it maintains the original structure, except for a minor detail.

Each of the panels represents a character from the Old Testament, mostly prophets, although there are also patriarchs -Jacob-, legislators and leaders -Moses- and kings -David and Solomon- identified by their corresponding sign and by a phylactery with a text taken from their writings or their words, alluding to the Passion of Christ on the cross. Those of the body are standing in front of simple niches of Renaissance architecture, while those of the baldachin are seated in front of neutral, dark-colored backgrounds. All of them are turned towards the cross, which they look at and/or point to -except Amos and Hosea, which suggests that in this case there has been a later alteration- and dressed in complicated and lavish clothing as was customary.

On the lower floor, from left to right according to the direction of the observer, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah and Daniel are identified. On the second floor, and in the same position, are Jacob, David, Solomon and Job. On the third floor are Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea and Moses. On the fourth and last floor, configured in the form of a canopy, are Malachi, Joel, Zephaniah and Habakkuk.

The presence of prophets with their written phylacteries whose texts allude to the Crucifixion of Jesus on the cross was not something new in the cathedral of Pamplona in the late Gothic period. Without leaving the temple, this iconography is found in the Crucifixion panel and in the mural of the Refectory by Juan Oliver.

Like that of the Duda de Santo Tomas, the altarpiece had a funerary purpose. This one in particular insists on the Passion of Christ as a guarantee of salvation. In addition, it is necessary to think that before this altar the masses of intercession for the members of the Marcilla family of Caparroso were celebrated and such masses are not but an unbloody renewal of the Passion.

At first glance, the altarpiece of Christ seems formally very different from that of the Duda de Santo Tomas. But this distinction is rather due to conceptual and iconographic differences: the Christ altarpiece has an iconological character and is composed of isolated figures, and the Santo Tomas altarpiece has a narrative character and is composed of scenes.

This, in turn, influences the compositional and stylistic aspect: the scenes of the altarpiece of Santo Tomas require an environmental framework appropriate to the episode narrated and hence the introduction of landscape or architectural backgrounds. The characters of the Old Testament of the altarpiece of Christ do not need a specific setting required by the action, but what is sought is to highlight the figure and the text, and for this the most appropriate are very simple architectural backgrounds -such as the niches of the body- or monochromatic -such as those of the baldachin-. In addition, this eagerness to highlight the figures and the weight of tradition explains the striking and luxurious attire of the prophets, while these only appear very occasionally in the altarpiece of the Duda.

However, there are coincidences between the two altarpieces, especially in the treatment of the characters, particularly between the prophets and the apostles of the altarpiece of La Duda, which are very similar. Also some of the decorative motifs of the niches of the altarpiece of the Christ are repeated in the altarpiece of Santo Tomas, specifically in the Flagellation and Pentecost. Likewise, the style of the sculptures is very similar. It should not be forgotten, on the other hand, that they had the same promoter and the same destiny.

All this leads us to attribute the two altarpieces to the same painter, undoubtedly a foreigner. In this sense, it should be kept in mind that the baldachin altarpiece typology is very uncommon in Spain, while it is quite common in France, the Netherlands and Germany. Undoubtedly the author of both works came from one of these countries, preferably France or the Netherlands.