the school of granada and alonso cano—the decline of sculpture—francisco zarcello

the school of granada was an offshoot from the school of seville, and it owes its glory chiefly to one man, who must be considered as the pupil of monta?és.

alonso cano was born at granada, on the 17th of march 1601, and was baptized in the parish church of san ildefonso, where the register of his baptism may still be seen. his father, miguel cano, was a carver of retablos, and it was with him that the young cano learnt the rudiments of his art. before long his talent gained the notice of the painter juan del castillo, who recommended the removal of the cano family to seville for the sake of better instruction. cano entered for eight months the studio of francisco pacho, where he learnt painting, having for his fellow-student velazquez. afterwards he became the assistant of juan del castillo. in sculpture he was the{152} pupil of monta?és, and for several years he worked under his guidance. there seems to have been a great friendship between the master and pupil. cano’s debt to monta?és was very great, and his early works in seville, executed under the direction of the master, are proof of how completely he assimilated his style.

cano’s earliest sculptured works were three retablos, designed, carved, and painted, one for the college of san alberto, and two for the conventual church of santa paula. zurbaran and pacheco were employed with cano in executing the altar-screen of san alberto, and cean bermudez tells us that his work surpassed theirs in merit. in the execution of the two altar-screens for santa paula he was helped by gaspar de ribas, who worked with him under the direction of monta?és. these screens remain in the church of santa paula—one over the altar of st. john the baptist, the other over that of st. john the evangelist. they are pieces of harmonious work, altogether praiseworthy, which show cano’s combined power as architect, sculptor, painter, and damask worker. the finer is the altar of st. john the baptist. the statue of the prophet and a bas-relief representing the baptism of christ are at either side, and between a beautiful representa{153}tion of figures carrying the head of st. john on a charger; then to right and left, between the columns, are placed statues of the saints, and these surmount figures of the virtues and cherubim. the hand of a master is seen everywhere.

besides the altar-screens of santa paula, there are a few good carvings that belong to this period of cano’s youth. there is a conception in the nunnery of santa paula, placed over the doorway, and a second, and perhaps finer, conception is in the parish church of san andrés, and there is also in the same church a very beautiful child jesus, unfortunately dressed in a satin robe which quite hides the body. these statues are all good, and indeed might be ascribed to monta?és except for a weakness in the modelling of the nude portions, a fault which cano afterwards overcame. the few other carvings in seville that are ascribed to cano are less certainly by him, and are works of little interest.

an important undertaking belongs to the year 1628. miguel cano had been employed to erect a new high altar for the church at lebrija, a small town situated forty-five miles from seville on the way to jeréz. the altar was already designed, but the actual carving was not started, when miguel cano died. it fell to his son to{154} complete the work. four pieces of sculpture were executed; a crucifixion to be placed above the altar, colossal statues of st. paul and st. peter for its second storey, and a small and exquisite image of the virgin enshrined within a curtained niche above the slab of the altar. this last is perhaps the most pleasing sculpture of this early period; it is one of those really beautiful pieces which cause us to forgive much of cano’s commonplace work.

it was soon after this that cano left seville. he could not bear any superior in his art except his master to be near him, and he challenged a fellow-painter, sebastian de llano y valdés, whose success had enraged him. he stabbed and wounded him, and, to escape the action of the ecclesiastical authorities, he fled to madrid. here he renewed his friendship with velazquez, and through his influence gained an appointment to work in the royal palaces, besides having the honour of being professor to prince baltasar carlos.

during this period, and in the years that followed, cano did more painting than modelling, and we have many pictures from his hand, some of which may be seen in the prado museum. in 1643 we find cano at toledo soliciting work in the cathedral. he did not obtain it, and returned{155} to madrid, where, soon afterwards, he was accused of murdering his wife. this was the beginning of a period of turmoil and wandering. cano fled to the city of valencia and afterwards took refuge in the cartuja of portacali. but later on, returning to madrid, he fell under the tribunal of the inquisition. after suffering the torture, he was adjudged innocent of the crime with which he was charged, and appointed majordomo of the brotherhood of nuestra se?ora de los dolores. this was a source of fresh trouble, and cano was fined a sum of a hundred ducats for refusing to assist in the procession in holy week beside the alguazils of the court—a characteristic incident, for cano was a man who never crossed his own wishes. cano again left madrid, and we find him in toledo, employed by the chapter to inspect the works in the octagon chapel. afterwards he must have gone to valencia and malaga, then he appears again at madrid. but he seems to have sought an opportunity to leave the royal city, and a canonry being vacant in the cathedral of granada, he petitioned the post from philip iv., which was granted by a royal decree, dated september 11, 1651, under conditions that he should take orders within a year. but the year passed and cano was not ordained, and his pre{156}bendaryship was declared vacant. whereupon cano, who was still governed by self-will, took his grievance to the courts. a chaplaincy was conferred on him by the bishop of salamanca, and the artist was ordained a sub-deacon. then the king ordered, by a decree dated april 14, 1658, that the granada prebendaryship should be restored to him, with the condition that he adopted ecclesiastical dress, which hitherto he had refused to wear. at last, in 1659, cano returned to granada, and took possession of his prebendaryship, which he occupied in peace for the remaining eight years of his life.

this was the period of cano’s greatest activity. the only sculptured works achieved during these turbulent years were the design for the holy week monument of the church of st. gines, madrid, and also the design and the superintending of the building of the triumphal arch erected at the guadalajara gate for the entry of queen mariana on her marriage with philip iv. but now the restless artist had found a fixed home in the city of his birth, with unhindered opportunity for the exercise of his facile gifts.

granada, and especially the cathedral—in the bell tower of which building his studio was—owe much to these years of cano’s residence. his{157} activity seems to have been unwearying. but, indeed, it must be granted that the city possesses more works than cano could possibly have accomplished in a period of eight years. it has been usual to attribute to him every good piece of polychrome statuary in granada. this is not surprising, for it is often impossible to distinguish with certainty between his work and that of his pupils josef de mora and pedro de mena, who imitated his style and made copies of many of his works. and the confusion is increased by the habit which cano had of himself working on the carvings of his assistants; were they in difficulty, he would finish their work with his own hand. thus it is impossible to pronounce with certainty as to the authorship of many of the reputed canos in granada.

among the statues in the cathedral that are ascribed to cano, and are certainly his work, we may place first the purissima, which is kept in the sacristy. it is a small and very beautiful statuette which has the qualities that belong to cano’s paintings. even more interesting is the group of the virgin and child, with santa ana, also in the cathedral, where it is hidden in the gloom of a dark side-chapel. quite unknown, this beautiful statue is almost certainly cano’s work; it has{158} all the qualities that belong to his art. the virgin, who is seated on the knee of santa ana, holds the child jesus. the figures are half life-size; the three faces and the hands are of exquisite delicacy. the virgin resembles the purissima in her sweetness. what a dainty fairness is here; with what exquisite taste the veil and the robe are arranged! the polychrome, too, is very beautiful, and fortunately it has not been restored. the virgin wears a white tulle turban, which is black striped and gold fringed; her robe is light red, damasked in gold, and partly covered by a drapery of indigo blue, which is fastened with gold clasps at the shoulders and waist. santa ana’s robe is black, gold embroidered, while her cloak is a deeper shade of the same red-brown as the virgin’s tunic.

in these two statues we see cano’s power in expressing tender human emotions. it is the quality that marks his works—both his painting and his carvings—among the spanish masters. his art never touches the passionate conceptions of ribera or zurbaran in painting, or of hernandez in sculpture: it is on a lower level than the ecstatic emotion of murillo or the beautiful carvings of monta?és. cano is mild and touching; he neither excites nor thrills us. his virgin is the happy{159} earthly mother who takes sweet pleasure in her child, not the mater dolorosa, suffering for the sorrows of her divine son. she has the fairness which he gives to all women. it was this understanding, so uncommon in spanish art, whose object was “to persuade men to piety and to incline them to god,” of the joy of life with its human relationships, that was cano’s special gift. he changed the dramatically serious religious compositions common to his country into scenes that speak charmingly of tender joyousness born of earthly love. to him alone, it would seem, it was given to find joy, and not sorrow, in the divine drama from which the spanish artists drew their inspiration.

other carvings in the cathedral that are ascribed to cano, though his authorship in some of the pieces is disputed, are the colossal busts of adam and eve placed very high to the right and left of the entrance to the capilla mayor, and the heads of st. paul and st. john the baptist, which are hidden in the darkness of the chapel of nuestra se?ora del carmel. these carvings, and especially the bleeding heads of the saints, are subjects that do not properly belong to cano’s art, but were undertaken by him to meet the popular taste of his{160} day, and for this reason they are of less interest. yet their importance is great on account of the excellence of the polychrome. the adam and eve, larger than life-size, are carved in oak, and harmoniously coloured with excellent care. unfortunately the height at which they are placed makes it very difficult to see them. the head of st. paul and that of the baptist—if this is cano’s work, and the skill of the craftsmanship points to its being so—must be classed with the similar head of st. john the baptist in the church of santa paula, which is also ascribed to cano. this last piece seems to have been copied from the head of the prophet sculptured by monta?és for the church of santa clara. there is also a most excellent head of st. john the baptist in the camarin of the chapel of san juan de dios, which must certainly be cano’s work (plates 154-156). none but a master could have carved this head; it is the finest example in spain of a polychrome of this subject. the livid face, which shows the death-marks, is surrounded with tumbled locks of black hair and a beard of the same colour. both it and the bleeding neck are faithfully and splendidly rendered: there is beauty in the horror. the charger on which the head is placed is of gold, and{161} forms a sort of aureole around it. at the top an eagle has seized it in its beak to carry the relic to heaven; the bird is painted a deep warm black with beautiful reflections.

the cathedral has other works which it owes to the years of cano’s residence. the beautiful frescoes of the capilla mayor, illustrating scenes from the life of the virgin, were his work. the lower stage of the west fa?ade we owe largely to him. he designed and superintended the execution of two silver lamps for the principal chapel; he carved the elaborate lectern of the choir, formed of fine woods, bronze, and precious stones; and executed new portals for the sacristy. two medallions on copper of great delicacy were wrought for the chapel of the trinity. here the figures recall the virgin in the group of santa ana and virgin and child. in addition several important pictures were painted for the dome of the capilla mayor, and others as altar-pieces for the chapels. some of these canvases disappeared when granada was stripped of so many of its treasures by the french. but a few fine pictures remain. the trinity in the chapel of that name, the way of the cross in nazareno chapel, and the virgen de la soledad, which hangs over the altar of san miguel, are the most important.{162}

this last-named painting is especially interesting to us, for there are two pieces of sculpture certainly copied from it, one in the parish church of santa ana, the other in the church of santa paula. both are excellent. the virgin has the delicacy and beauty that we expect from cano. the polychrome is subdued; the flesh of the face and the beautiful folded hands are a dull pallor, befitting grief; the eyes and the tears are formed by crystals, after the custom used by gregorio hernandez and juan de juni. the dress, which is white, and the mantle, of bluish black, are perfectly harmonious. these colours are a repetition of the cathedral picture. and the question arises, are the sculptures also by cano? that of santa paula has always been ascribed to josef de mora. if we accept this, we must account the soledad of santa ana as the work of cano, and the santa paula as a splendid copy. but both statues are so equally good, especially in the colouring, that the pupil’s work must have been touched by the hand of the master. it is impossible to believe that josef de mora could have achieved this masterpiece unaided.

the same difficulty of authorship between the master and the pupil confronts us in the two statues of st. bruno, both in the cartuja (plate{163} 158). one, life-size, is in the sacristy, and this work is reported to have been ordered from josef de mora; the other, a statuette, which is placed over the high altar, may with little question be ascribed to cano. at least, if it is not his work, then it is a copy of a lost original. josef de mora could not by himself have designed so exquisite a work. the statuette exceeds the statue in beauty. both the carving and colouring are equally fine; the latter is a triumph of polychrome. the monk’s pale face and hands, his white robe, and his scapular of the same colour, are perfectly transcribed, a richness being given to the white of the dress, in contrast to the pale flesh, by the device of the old damask workers of painting over a gold ground. this small work is another masterpiece which cano achieved. it takes rank with the st. anthony in san nicolas of murcia, a better known work, which belongs to an earlier period of cano’s art. the cartuja formerly contained a fine statue of the magdalen, which is ascribed to cano (plate 159). it was taken away, with many works of art, during the invasion of the french.

there is almost hopeless uncertainty with regard to the remaining commissions carried out by cano for the religious orders of granada.{164} cean bermudez catalogues many paintings and sculptures that have disappeared. for the convent of the angel we read that cano carved in marble a figure of the guardian angel to be placed over the portal, and designed an elaborate altar-screen, which was carved by pedro de mena, though cano chiselled several of the statues with his own hand. he also painted a picture of our lord parting from the virgin in the via dolorosa. other pictures were painted for the convent of san diego, and a series of half-length figures of the apostles were designed and executed for the dominican monastery of sta. catalina. then cano worked for private patrons. palomino tells of a statue of st. anthony of padua, carved for the auditor of the chancery, which cano, becoming enraged with his client about the payment of the work, dashed to pieces: a characteristic incident, which recalls the action of torrigiano. unfortunately the disappearance of many of these churches and monasteries with all their contents, and the change of the names of others, makes it impossible to estimate these works or to hazard an opinion as to their present whereabouts.

cano closed his activity with a series of works for malaga cathedral. he designed the capilla mayor, and undertook to carve new stalls for the{165} choir, but a dispute arising about the payment, he threw up the work with his usual impetuosity and returned to granada. a group of important pictures were also painted in these last years.

cano died in his house in the albaicin quarter on the 5th october 1667; he was then sixty-six years old. his body rests in the pantheon of the canons beneath the choir of the cathedral.

it is worth noting that cano died in poverty. his disposition was generous, and the old spanish writers tell us that his gains, as soon as he won them, were divided among his friends and among the poor. we find numerous anecdotes of his life, and one story of his death is too good not to be recorded; moreover it helps to complete our knowledge of the man. the priest summoned to offer extreme unction to the dying cano was accustomed to labour among penitent jews, towards whom the artist had always displayed a curiously passionate antipathy. the sick man recognised the priest. “go, se?or licenciado,” he cried, “go with god and do not trouble to call again: the priest who administers the sacraments to jews shall not administer them to me.” a fresh priest was summoned. the new-comer placed an old-fashioned crucifix in the hands that had carved so many beautiful pieces. impatiently{166} cano pushed it aside. “my son,” gently remonstrated the priest, “what dost thou mean? this is the lord who redeemed thee and must save thee!” “i know that all very well,” was cano’s answer, “but do you want to provoke me with this wretched ill-wrought thing in order to give me over to the devil?”

cano was a gallant soul storming through life, who in spite of his violence and restlessness was loving and charitable, displaying boundless graciousness towards his friends and his pupils. no master ever took greater interest in his pupils; he gave freely to them of his knowledge and his work. these contradictions in cano’s temperament explain his art.

among cano’s pupils special mention must be made of josef de mora and pedro de mena; both imitated their master so closely that, as we have seen, their works have been confused with his. this is perhaps the best praise that can be accorded to the pupils. joseph de mora was born at majorca in 1638, where he passed his youth learning his art from his father. the fame of cano brought him to granada, and he at once became a pupil in the studio of the master. he acquired considerable skill as a carver, and a few years later he went to madrid, where he was appointed{167} sculptor to the king. but the climate of the capital being unsuited to his health, he returned to granada. from this time mora became wholly the imitator of cano. he had a curious habit that is worth recording; no one ever saw him at work, for when in his studio with his model the door was always kept bolted. this explains perhaps why he was able to copy so successfully the carvings of cano. we have pointed out the various statues in which confusion has arisen between the authorship of the master and that of the pupil. the st. bruno of the cartuja and the virgen de la soledad of santa ana cannot be given to mora as wholly his own work; a conception in the cartuja, if it is by his hand, must also be considered as a copy of cano. fortunately for mora’s personal reputation there is in the church of santa ana a statue by him of st. pantaleon, which reveals some individual characteristics. the figure of the young martyred saint was modelled from a woman, and the spiritual effect gained by this means is increased by the unusual device of placing the statue in a glass case. the figure is very graceful and delicate, which contrasts with the severity of the face. but there is a weakness in the modelling of the legs and feet, and also in the{168} folds of the vestments, which the artist has striven to hide by the polychrome. this is good, in the style commended by pacheco, made in subdued tones and with no gilding. the personal qualities of this statue make us regret the practice of imitation of his master in which mora lost his own talent, which must have been considerable.

this is even more true of pedro de mena, cano’s second pupil, who had much greater originality and talent. a native of alpujaras, where, in collaboration with his father alonso de mena, he had established a considerable local reputation, like mora he came to granada, attracted by the renown of cano. it is reported that when he saw the master’s works in the cathedral his enthusiasm was so great that he determined to do no more carving until he had become a pupil of cano. he brought his family to granada and at once entered the studio of the master. cano recognised his talent, and passed over to him all the work which he did not wish personally to execute. under these conditions mena gained the commission, refused by cano, to carve forty statues of the saints for the choir of malaga cathedral. the work occupied four years, 1658-1662, and for it mena received payment of 40,000 reals. these statues prove the great talent of mena.{169} the figures are carved in cedar-wood and are not coloured. what is remarkable is the individuality which mena has succeeded in giving to the different saints; each is a living character. professor c. justi says of these statuettes: “they are among the most singular and startling products of spanish art, if not of all modern sculpture.” mena had the spanish gift of impressive rendering of character, and it is for this quality he claims recognition.

in 1667 mena was appointed sculptor to the chapter of toledo. probably it was at this time that he carved the statuette of st. francis (plate 160), now in the cathedral treasury, which has erroneously been ascribed to cano. this ascetic figure, so spanish in its conception, could never have been carved by cano. the popularity of mena increased, and on the death of cano he took his place, fulfilling many commissions for the different religious orders. the city still contains several of his works. the equestrian statue of st. james and the praying statues of the catholic kings in the cathedral are the best known. but these works are of much less merit than the saints in the choir of malaga. certainly they have some individuality, but mena here relies too much on what he had learnt{170} from cano; or perhaps popularity had made him careless.

but mena’s fame spread, and he was called by prince john of austria to madrid to execute a virgen del pilar with st. james at her feet. the success of this work gained a second commission, and prince doria ordered a crucifixion which was sent to italy, where it gained much praise—a rare honour for a spanish sculptor.

mena did not remain in madrid, and after a period of residence in cordova, malaga, and salamanca, where he carved a statuette of st. francis which is still in the city, he returned to granada, where he died in 1693.

the last years of the seventeenth century saw the death of the great sculptors of spain, and with the opening of the eighteenth century we may say that the art of sculpture itself was dead. a corruption in taste had become general; it was evident in painting and in architecture as well as in sculpture. churriguera was the great offender, but his contemporaries, following his lead, had sought by bad taste, displayed in excessive decoration and vivid colour, “to correct” the simplicity of art. the decline of sculpture in the south was more rapid and perhaps greater than{171} in the northern schools. many of the old altar-screens were replaced by modern works of the new false art. a popular desire arose for works of the coarsest materialisation. the custom grew of dressing the statues in real garments. then eyes of glass and real hair were in many instances added, and apparatus was invented for moving the head, mouth, eyes, and limbs of the statues. many pieces of fine sculpture were actually destroyed to meet this degraded demand. the virgins, and notably the las doloras, were subjected to this treatment. one example of these “dressed images” is a virgin in seville cathedral. the limbs of this carved doll move at the joints, while a contrivance in the body enables the head to turn to the right or the left. the body is covered with rose-coloured taffeta which is glued to the wood, the hair is of silk plaited with gold threads, and shoes of white kid encase the feet. sometimes the figure sits, and sometimes stands, and the child jesus is placed in the arms or upon the knees according to the position of the mother.

there is little more to add. a dying tradition of art with no master to reanimate its life—that is the record of the eighteenth century.

one artist alone claims remembrance. fran{172}cisco zarcello was the son of an unimportant neapolitan artist, who had settled in murcia at the close of the seventeenth century. it was from his father that francisco zarcello gained what training in art he had. it is said that he purposed going to italy to study, but the project was not carried out. probably zarcello gained from thus pursuing his art alone, as he was saved from the error of imitation, especially baneful in this period of decadence. and though the renown he gained must be admitted to be in excess of the merit that his works claim, he did possess a considerable talent, with real feeling and something of the old spanish religious sincerity. had he lived in a different epoch, with conditions more favourable to art, he might have been a great artist.

zarcello executed numerous works: indeed a greater number of statues and statuettes—no less than eighteen hundred—than several men’s lives could have sufficed to have produced are catalogued to his name. many of these present really admirable qualities. he was especially successful in the grouping of his figures, many of which, though showing exaggerated attitudes, are true works of art. his retablos in the churches of{173} murcia, and the realistic groups of the “pasos,” guarded in the ermita de jesus (plate 161), are remarkable examples of his power. we are able to forget the materialistic devices used—such, for instance, as the embroidered velvet robes which the christ wears—by reason of the truth and religious passion which has inspired the artist. but all zarcello’s figures display his faults, excited gestures, confused drapery, and a want of care in the modelling of the extremities.

among his single statues we may mention the st. jerome in the cathedral of murcia, of which there is a replica in the convent of the saint, three miles from the city. this statue is said by antonio alix, the latest historian of zarcello, to be equal to torrigiani’s st. jerome, an estimate of praise which is surely excessive. then there are the two busts of st. john the baptist in the church of san juan, a st. anthony—copied from cano’s statue—a st. francis, a conception, and a purissima, as well as numerous representations of the saints. every church in murcia contains some work of zarcello. the statue of st. veronica (plate 162) in ermita de jesus is the best single figure that he achieved.

zarcello stood alone. he was assisted in his{174} studio work by the members of his family, but no one of them inherited his talent. he seems to have had no outside pupils. with his death, which occurred in the year 1748, the history of ancient spanish sculpture closes.