Spain Arts and Architecture – From the 16th to the 18th Century
At the end of the century. 15th, and especially in the 16th, Italian art influences architecture, sculpture and painting (D. Fancelli, B. Ordóñez, P. Torrigiano, Iacopo l’Indaco). There are not a few artists of Italian training (F. Yáñez de la Almedina, F. de los Llanos, A. Berruguete, P. Machuca, VJ Macip, his son Juan de Juanes, F. Vigarny etc.). Architectural elements of the Italian Renaissance are superimposed on a Gothic stylistic background, treated with Moorish techniques and reminiscences (chapter room of the cathedral of Toledo; chapel of the Annunciation in the cathedral of Sigüenza; room of the Great ones in the university of Alcalá etc.). The spread of the Italian Renaissance took on Spanish characters in the Plateresque style (➔ # 10132; ): among the major architects of the period, A. de Covarrubias, P. Gumiel and Diego de Siloe; subsequently, A. de Vaudelvire and J. de Herrera. Among the sculptors, in addition to A. Berruguete, noteworthy Philip of Burgundy, Vasco de Zarza, D. Forment, Juan de Juní, G. Becerra and the Italians L. and P. Leoni.
● According to listofusnewspapers, the reign of Philip II marked a classicistic reaction, expressed in the major monument of the time, the Escorial (➔ # 10132;).
● Philip II also began the major collections of works of art, collecting them in the Prado and the Alcázar of Madrid. At his death (1598) there were important artistic centers in Spain: the court, Toledo, Seville and Valencia and, for sculpture, Valladolid and Granada. In the court (Madrid; Escorial) two tendencies dominated: Italian and Italian-speaking decorators (active at the Escorial F. Zuccari, L. Cambiaso, P. Tibaldi) and portrait painters who were followers of A. Sánchez Coello and, through this, of Titian and A . Moro. In Toledo the great figure of the Greek was affirmed, in Valencia a manner of Caravaggesque inspiration was born (F. Ribalta). In Seville worked F. de Herrera the Elder, F. Pacheco del Río and J. de las Roelas. In sculpture, G. Fernández began the school of Castilian realistic statuary in Valladolid, while J. Martínez Montañés played a similar role in Seville.
● The first half of the 17th century. it is dominated by D. Velázquez; excel in Valencia J. de Ribera, in Seville F. Zurbarán and A. Cano (painter, architect and notable sculptor: his influence in sculpture was decisive). The realistic tradition was continued in Madrid by the Portuguese painter M. Pereira.
● Among the architects of this Baroque phase stand out Spain Herrera Barnuevo, Pedro de la Torre, F. de Herrera the Younger. In the second half of the 17th century. J. Carreno, F. Ricci, F. de Herrera the Younger and C. Coello stand out among the court painters; in Valencia there were followers of Ribera and JJ Espinosa; in Seville, BE Murillo and J. de Valdés Leal. L. Giordano, called to Madrid in 1692 by Charles II, left again in 1702, leaving a void in Spanish painting. Sculpture, especially in Andalusia, followed in Granada the school of A. Cano (P. de Mena y Medrano and J. Mora); in Seville P. Roldán developed the pictorial value of Baroque sculpture.
● In the field of architecture, typical trends are forming in Seville, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, Salamanca, Valencia, Zaragoza and Madrid. Dai Churriguera (➔ # 10132;) derives the adjective Churrigueresque which defines the style of the late 17th century. and the beginning of the 18th. Churrigueresque architecture continued to dominate the 18th century. (P. de Ribera in Madrid, F. Hurtado in Granada, F. Casa y Novoa in Santiago de Compostela). The arrival of F. Juvarra, called to give the plans for the new royal palace, marks the beginning of a new development.
● The traditional sculpture is represented by the terracotta of Roldana (daughter of P. Roldán) and above all by the statues of the Murciano F. Salzillo. Painting, with the erudite work of AA Palomino (more prominent as an art writer), filled ceilings and vaults or wearily prolonged Murillo’s manner in Andalusia. Foreign painters came, especially from Italy: I. Amigoni, C. Giaquinto and, especially, GB Tiepolo (with his sons Lorenzo and Gian Domenico) and AR Mengs, who exerted a profound influence on Spanish painters. Among the imitators of Mengs we must remember F. Bayeu y Subias. The painting began to be inspired by contemporary customs, which was also addressed, in a first phase, by the Madrid tapestry factory, directed by Mengs.
● Neoclassicism had three great architects in the Spain: V. Rodríguez Tizón, of still baroque tendencies, F. Sabatini and J. de Villanueva. In sculpture M. Álvarez and F. de Castro stood out. Traces of the tradition of religious statuary remain in the works of LS Carmona and the Galician JJ Ferreiro.
