Monument to José María Méndez Vigo (1929)

Author: José Luis Marrero and Fructuoso Orduna (Roncal, 1893-Madrid, 1973).
Promoter/financing: Popular subscription, at the initiative of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro.
Inauguration/installation: December 22nd, 1929.
Location: Paseo de Invierno.

On December 22, 1929, the monument dedicated to José María Méndez Vigo (Madrid, 1877-1927), member of the Spanish Parliament for the district of Tudela in six consecutive legislatures between 1914 and 1923, was inaugurated on the Paseo de Invierno, decorated for the occasion. The work, promoted by the recently created Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro (1926) and financed by popular subscription, was born as a tribute to his work in favor of the city and the region, with milestones such as the processing and the beginning of the works of the Lodosa Canal and the reinforcement of the retaining dike of the Ebro River. Institutional recognition was already evident in 1915 with his appointment as Adopted Son of Tudela, while the Real Sociedad Económica Tudelana de Amigos del País designated him a partner of merit.

The architectural project of the monument was the work of José Luis Marrero, a close friend of the honoree, and the sculptural execution was the position of Fructuoso Orduna, the greatest representative of 20th century sculpture in Navarre. Trained in Zaragoza with Dionisio Lasuén and later in Madrid with Mariano Benlliure, Orduna consolidated his early prestige with awards at the National Exhibitions of 1920 and 1922. A figurative sculptor and profound connoisseur of the great masters, he was gifted with a magnificent hand for carving. In his portraits and historical figures there are conscientious programs of study the effigy, while in religious statuary he is heir sample the great tradition of the best Spanish sculptors. The names of both authors (Marrero and Orduna) are inscribed on the monument.

The monument is conceived as a granite monolith raised on a stepped base. To one of its faces is attached a bronze plate cast in the Fundición Artística Industrial spanish medical residency program and Ferrero, located at c/ Anastasio Aroca nº 8 in Madrid, with which worked artists of the stature of Mariano Benlliure, Julio Antonio or Victorio Macho. sample a classical matron, allegory of Agriculture, who raises her son in her arms to show him the fields of Tudela flourishing thanks to the canal promoted by Méndez Vigo. In this way, a symbolic relationship is established between the benefactor and the fertility of Tudela's orchards. Above the relief there is a white marble medallion with the profile bust of the honoree, with marked facial features. The material contrast -granite, bronze, marble- generates a polychrome of textures that enlivens the sobriety of the architectural design . The registration on the back: "To D. José Mª Méndez de Vigo. Erected by popular subscription MCMXXIX", not only identifies, but also establishes the participative character of the homage and the citizen's gratitude.