The piece of the month of August 2014

THE DESIGN OF THE MAIN ALTARPIECE OF THE CONVENT OF THE DISCALCED CARMELITES OF LESAKA

Mª Concepción García Gainza
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art

This original design corresponds to the main altarpiece of the convent of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores in Lesaka, a foundation of Discalced Carmelite nuns whose patron was the Indian Ignacio de Arriola y Mazola, a Basque who settled in Cuzco as a country master. A devotee of the Carmelite order and Saint Teresa, he endowed the new foundation with an important bequest for the construction of the convent, designed by the active tracista of the Carmelite order, Fray José de San Juan de la Cruz, and for the five altarpieces in the church designed by José Ramírez de Arellano, the most important 18th century sculptor from Zaragoza.

In fact, the design in question is signed by Joseph Ramírez in Zaragoza on 19 June 1769. It is also signed in Pamplona on 18 July 1769 by Ignacio Navarro, notary public, and by Miguel Antonio Olasagarre, the Pamplona architect who contracted its execution with the commitment to conform exactly to this design. It also bears the fifteen-foot scale of Navarre.

The sculptor from Zaragoza reserved the execution of the images of the altarpiece for his own work staff . The layout, which consists of plan and elevation, is a magnificent design of the prevailing academicist altarpiece at the time of its execution. On the other hand, as far as we know, it is the only one preserved by José Ramírez and it is illustrative of the knowledge of the architectural design and the ornamentation by its author, as well as the representation of the images, something that was to be expected of one who was Director of the Zaragoza Academy of Drawing, which taught in its classes the study of architecture and its drawing, as well as perspective. It should not be forgotten that José Ramírez was the architect of the Holy Chapel of the church of El Pilar in Zaragoza between 1754-1765, replacing Ventura Rodríguez as director assistant to the as well as sculpting the marble groups of the altar of Santiago and the seven converts and the Coming of the Virgin. He was therefore a first-rate "sculptor to His Majesty" and an academic who carried out a very intense activity in the last years of his life until his death in 1770. In this sense, Lesaka's design is dated eight months before his death, when José Ramírez's mastery had reached its culmination. Before that date José Ramírez had worked for Navarre on other works such as the main altarpiece in Peralta as well as the excellent images of the Commanders of Puente la Reina, which are among the best of his extensive production preserved in Aragon.
 

Design of the main altarpiece of the convent of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Lesaka
José Ramírez de Arellano, 1769

 

The pencil, ink and gouache drawing represents the plan and elevation of a Borrominesque altarpiece through the movement it gives to the curved architecture. It is mounted on a marble pedestal, enlivened by the colour, and a bench on which stands a body of four columns flanked by diamond-shaped loops and a slender canon with a composite capital. It ends in an attic with the Crucified Christ inscribed in an arch with coffered ceilings. The design breathes the academicism of the period both in the ornamental language of classical character and in the garlands, dentils, scales, cartouches or panels of abstract decoration of fine carving. The central niche is covered by a canopy with a canopy with a canopy guard, reminiscent of the one used in the Santa Capilla (Holy Chapel). The relationship with Ventura Rodríguez, whom Ramírez replaced in the Pilar, as mentioned above, is clear in the ensemble. The elevation sample is similar to the main altarpiece of the Hospital de Convalecientes in Zaragoza, a work attributed to Ramírez's disciple Juan Aralí.

The layout sample beautifully draws the images that the altarpiece was to bear and which corresponded to Carmelite devotions. They stand on small pedestals with cartouches with their names engraved on them and are located at the starts of the intercolumniation. They represent Saint Joachim with the Child Virgin dressed in Carmelite habits, Saint Joseph, an Archangel and Saint Anne. All of them are elegant figures of slender canon modulated with brushstrokes. In the central niche is a drawing of the group of the Virgin of Sorrows, patron saint of the convent, according to model by Juan Adán, partner of José Ramírez at the Zaragoza Academy of Drawing. It is ultimately inspired by the Pietà by Aníbal Carracci in the National Museum of Capodimonte (Naples). All the details of the design are executed with great mastery, precision and exquisiteness. The Crucified Christ is depicted in the attic.

The architecture of the altarpiece was carried out by the master architect from Pamplona, Miguel Antonio de Olasagarre, following the design in every detail, and he did the same with the collateral altars dedicated to the Virgin of Carmen and Saint Teresa and the other altars-medals located in the nave dedicated to Saint Elias and Saint John of the Cross, all designed by Ramírez. We also know that the sculptures were actually made by José Ramírez, as this is recorded in the engraving by Mateo González of the group of the Virgen de los Dolores de Lesaka.

Unfortunately, neither the altarpiece nor its images have come down to us. The sculptures, of excellent quality and brought from Zaragoza, were destroyed during the French occupation, when they were dragged to the place in Lesaka and publicly burnt. The Chronicle of the convent speaks of divine punishment when it narrates the collapse of the sculptures of the altarpiece on the French, causing several deaths.
 

bibliography
-GARCÍA GAINZA, M. C., "El convento de Carmelitas Descalzas de Lesaca",Boletín del seminar de Arte y Arqueología de Valladolid, 39, 1973, pp. 333-344.
-FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., El retablo barroco en Navarra, Pamplona, 2002, pp. 430-431.
-GARCÍA GAINZA M. C., ORBE SIVATTE, M., DOMEÑO MARTÍNEZ DE MORENTÍN, A. and AZANZA LÓPEZ, J.J, Catálogo Monumental de Navarra V**, Merindad de Pamplona. Imoz-Zugarramurdi, Pamplona, 1996, pp. 666-668.
-BOLOQUI LARRAYA, M. B., Escultura zaragozana en la época de los Ramírez, 1710-1780, Madrid, 1983, pp. 198-199 and 207.
-PARDO CANALIS, E., "El escultor Juan Adán", seminar de Arte Aragonés, 7-9, 1957, p. 7.