.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
CASTILIAN PLATERESQUE
Renaissance architecture in the Castilian states is perhaps best represented in the cities of Salamanca, Léon and Burgos, the real heart of the Castilian states, as well as Toledo, Granada and Seville. The influx of money from their American conquests helped propel the architecture of the 16th century towards a new richness. Charles V also wished to emphasize Spain's ties to Europe through a more Italian- influenced architectural program. And this Spanish love of a densely ornamented decorative style can be seen in the Springfield facade. Again, like the Springfield facade, the arrangement, typically, was rhythmical with grouping two elements alternating with a single element. One of the best examples being the facade of the University of Alcalá de Henares, built between 1543 and 1583 and certainly contemporary with at least part of the Springfield facade. The use of semicircular elements, arches, niched shells and further richly detailed moldings and carvings are typical.
As has been noted in the Springfield Art Museums' archives (from the records of Frederick B. Robinson, Director), the central plaque possibly depicts the handing over of the keys which are thought to represent the territories of Sardinia and Corsica which were given to the Emperor of Byzantium in Constantinople in exchange for reinforcements for the Frankish armies in their crusade to win the Holy Land. The four saints of the lower registers (illustrated only in the Springfield installation photograph) are Saints Sebastian, Barbara, Mary Magdelen and Mathew. As has also been noted, each these saints can be related symbolically to sickness and its cure, it may indicate the facade was originally for the interior courtyard of a hospice or hospital. This is further supported by the two additional plaques, one probably representing Ceres, the goddess of abundance, fertility and productivity and the other probably representing Helios or Hyperion, the driver of Apollo's chariot of the sun.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
Like many of William Randolph Hearst's (1863-1951) acquisitions, this alabaster facade was probably acquired on one of his legendary buying trips throughout the Continent. The American newspaper and magazine magnate, who had begun collecting art on a serious scale in the first decade of the twentieth century, continued to buy on a staggering scale throughout the 1920's and 1930's. And, as lots 219-221 illustrate, it was not only early works of art and furniture, but architectural elements and indeed entire buildings, both religious and secular, that were deconstructed, stone by stone, labeled and shipped to his fabled castle which was rising on the coast of California. At San Simeon, his architect, Julia Morgan, then incorporated these disparate elements into the fantastic complex, which was part stage set and part personal monument, but still a serious collection of art and architecture, and created a house unlike any other in North America. However, in the late 1930s and 1940s, after the onset of severe financial problems, many objects from Hearst's collections were sold both at a series of auctions and privately through dealers and even department stores.
This sculptural group is clearly the work of multiple artists and masons. And while the pieces would probably have formed part of a Spanish church or monastery, sadly, like so many of Hearst's acquisitions, it is now difficult to reconstruct both its exact location and configuration.
Renaissance architecture in the Castilian states is perhaps best represented in the cities of Salamanca, Léon and Burgos, the real heart of the Castilian states, as well as Toledo, Granada and Seville. The influx of money from their American conquests helped propel the architecture of the 16th century towards a new richness. Charles V also wished to emphasize Spain's ties to Europe through a more Italian- influenced architectural program. And this Spanish love of a densely ornamented decorative style can be seen in the Springfield facade. Again, like the Springfield facade, the arrangement, typically, was rhythmical with grouping two elements alternating with a single element. One of the best examples being the facade of the University of Alcalá de Henares, built between 1543 and 1583 and certainly contemporary with at least part of the Springfield facade. The use of semicircular elements, arches, niched shells and further richly detailed moldings and carvings are typical.
As has been noted in the Springfield Art Museums' archives (from the records of Frederick B. Robinson, Director), the central plaque possibly depicts the handing over of the keys which are thought to represent the territories of Sardinia and Corsica which were given to the Emperor of Byzantium in Constantinople in exchange for reinforcements for the Frankish armies in their crusade to win the Holy Land. The four saints of the lower registers (illustrated only in the Springfield installation photograph) are Saints Sebastian, Barbara, Mary Magdelen and Mathew. As has also been noted, each these saints can be related symbolically to sickness and its cure, it may indicate the facade was originally for the interior courtyard of a hospice or hospital. This is further supported by the two additional plaques, one probably representing Ceres, the goddess of abundance, fertility and productivity and the other probably representing Helios or Hyperion, the driver of Apollo's chariot of the sun.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
Like many of William Randolph Hearst's (1863-1951) acquisitions, this alabaster facade was probably acquired on one of his legendary buying trips throughout the Continent. The American newspaper and magazine magnate, who had begun collecting art on a serious scale in the first decade of the twentieth century, continued to buy on a staggering scale throughout the 1920's and 1930's. And, as lots 219-221 illustrate, it was not only early works of art and furniture, but architectural elements and indeed entire buildings, both religious and secular, that were deconstructed, stone by stone, labeled and shipped to his fabled castle which was rising on the coast of California. At San Simeon, his architect, Julia Morgan, then incorporated these disparate elements into the fantastic complex, which was part stage set and part personal monument, but still a serious collection of art and architecture, and created a house unlike any other in North America. However, in the late 1930s and 1940s, after the onset of severe financial problems, many objects from Hearst's collections were sold both at a series of auctions and privately through dealers and even department stores.
This sculptural group is clearly the work of multiple artists and masons. And while the pieces would probably have formed part of a Spanish church or monastery, sadly, like so many of Hearst's acquisitions, it is now difficult to reconstruct both its exact location and configuration.