Main altarpiece of the Assumption of Añorbe

It is practically coeval in its execution with the Cáseda altarpiece, as we know that by 1577 the carver Pedro de Contreras had completed its assembly, its sculpture corresponding to the unmistakable hand of Juan de Anchieta, as García Gainza has concluded. In an unusual case, only twenty years had elapsed when in 1597 the painter and king of arms Juan de Landa contracted its gilding and estofado. Thus, we can affirm that in this hybrid Counter-Reformationist ensemble, the gouge and brush of the two most important masters of international Mannerism in Navarre can be found at quotation , which, moreover, has been enhanced after a successful restoration.

Its layout proposes a flat development with a bench, two bodies and three streets, with the studied optical reduction in the size of the houses in the second body. The articulation is made here with the use of bent Corinthian order supports, pilasters in the first body, a set of pilaster-columns at the ends, and columns in the second. The pediments of Astorga also distinguish the body of the Virgin and, on them, there are naked boys lying down in the manner of the Medici Tombs. It has preserved its original tabernacle with the Institution of the Eucharist on the door and St. Peter and St. Paul in their niches; the templete-expositor is removed in a chapel.

A Trentine Counter-Reformationist program, culminating in the Calvary, under which is placed the Assumption-Coronation, as co-redeemer and intercessor, is sample before the eyes of the faithful. Here, as in Cáseda, he has chosen the model of the upright Virgin with open arms, which derives from the Assumption painted by Daniele Volterra in the church of the Trinity in Rome. In her condition of mediator between her Son and men, she extends one hand upwards and the other downwards as in the Astorga altarpiece. The Virgin and Child, titular of the altarpiece, is a block sculpture with the face of a classical matron and heavy drapery, concentrating on the cruel destiny that awaits her Son in his mission statement on earth. In contrast, the Child, naked and vertical, is represented, as befits his age, caressing his mother. The magnificent anatomical study of the infant, which very few sculptors knew how to treat, is striking.

The solid foundations are the Fathers of the Church, with St. Ambrose and St. Augustine on the bench, seated at Chair, signifying the authority of the prelates. They are accompanied by St. John the Baptist hermit, who describes a serpentine line, and St. Stephen the Protomartyr, two examples of life for the Christian. The allegories of the virtues of the bench of the first body derive from the cathedral altarpiece of Astorga, even in the concession to the nude, placing charity, located on the side of the Gospel, that is, the importance of works for the Christian, before faith at the other end. Simulating to support the structure of the altarpiece on the benches are the figures of the telamons, inspired by the putti of the thrones of the Sistine and representing, in neoplatonic core topic , the idea of the body as a prison for the soul. The two on the bench, with heavy cloths on their backs, reveal Anchieta's gouge and are very similar to the ones he made in the Vileña altarpiece in the Museum of Burgos. On the bench of the second body we see the four seated evangelists.

In the side streets there are high reliefs with saints paired in heated gestural dialogues about their common faith, which may belong to the same cycle, like Saint Peter and Saint Paul, or different, like Saint Anton and a bishop saint, which ratifies the universality of the religion. The presence of Saint Michael, a devotion deeply rooted in Navarre, should not be surprising, but in this counter-reformist work he is represented isolated in a declamatory attitude, like a triumphant warrior with the devil at his feet. He will now represent for the faithful the victory of the Church against heresy and, in particular, against Protestantism. The Calvary is flanked in the attic by two prophets, one of them Moses, who repeats the gesture of stroking his beard characteristic of Michelangelo's famous statue.

The altarpiece is covered with a beautiful natural polychromy, applied by Juan de Landa, in which the stews are concentrated on the figures and the backgrounds, leaving the structural elements simply gilded. The motifs that we can admire on the pilasters of the bench are naturalistic, refined after the Council of Trent and composed of a trilogy of plant stems that twine in the form of scrolls, children and birds of the country intermingled, using a triplet of bright colors such as carmine, mountain green and ash blue.