Title

Processional Cross from Ávila

Martínez, Juan (Ávila, ca. 1523 - ?, post. 1562)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

Acquired in Madrid in 1919, this cross became part of the collection of works that Walter Leo Hildburgh donated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Charles Oman (1968, p. 26) believed that the cross came from Toledo and attributed it to the silversmith Francisco Martínez. However, the repeated presence of the Ávila hallmark (crenellated tower) and the mark of the local marker Vicente Calderón (cauldron) place the true origin of the piece in the Ávila area. As for the author, it is Juan Martínez, according to his personal mark (MARTI/ИEZ), a silversmith active in the middle decades of the 16th century, who held the position of cathedral silversmith in Ávila between 1555 and 1562.

At present, it is not possible to determine the exact church and location to which the processional cross may have belonged, given the lack of specific information about the process of disposal.

Description

It stands on a base divided into three sections. The lower section corresponds to the pipe, which has a bulbous shape and is decorated with acanthus leaves. The central section is a drepressed sphere, decorated with embossed motifs featuring tentacle-like shapes and tendrils arranged around four leaves. The transition to the upper part is achieved by means of a succession of small rounded mouldings and a concave space in the manner of a scotia. The last section is a cylindrical prism divided into sections, separated by handles, with decorations of facing dragons and masks. On the surface there are ribbons with winged heads.

The cross corresponds to a model originated from Burgos that was widely accepted in the rest of Castile, with lyre-shaped balustrade arms and curved rhombus-shaped finials, like ogee arches, with tondos on the inside. It is surrounded on its entire perimeter, both on the front and back, by a crest of fleurs-de-lis. It has lost all the reliefs at the ends, framed in laurels, which usually include representations of the Virgin and Saint John, the evangelists and other Christological and Passionate iconography motifs.

The figures on the arms display a Renaissance decorative lexicon of Plateresque heritage through the abundant use of grotesques. On the tree there are masks, skulls, shields and armour arranged in a candelieri pattern; on the crossbar there are chimeras. The figure of Christ crucified stands out for its careful anatomy and expressiveness, in line with the models of the Ávila school of sculpture of the time through the influence of Berruguete.

In the centre, the pieces on both sides are identical, square, with pinnacles at the corners, a central embossed floral motif and branches with plant forms extending towards the corners. Its formal interpretation differs from the style applied in the rest of the reliefs, a situation that reveals the variety of influences and decorative resources available to the master silversmith at a time characterised by a transition in style towards Roman models and a progressive restraint in decoration. This type of "cuadron" is not common in Ávila's processional crosses, as they usually include landscape and architectural backgrounds on the front, with Mount Golgotha and the city of Jerusalem. The figure that normally appears in the centre of the back, referring to the dedication of the church to which the piece belonged, has disappeared.

Despite the loss of the reliefs, the overall state of conservation is good, as the parts that make up the cross are firmly joined and the structure is solid. It appears to have been restored at some unspecified point in time, when the nails and metal fasteners that have left numerous holes in the surface today were removed.

Both the type of cluster and the stylised arms are elements that differentiate it from other examples of processional crosses from Ávila. Added to these particularities is the importance of the author. Most of his work is unknown, despite the fact that he held one of the most important posts in silverwork in Ávila, as a salaried master craftsman at the cathedral during the period of greatest production of religious gold and silverwork in the town and its diocesan district.

Locations

• ca. 1555 - pre. 1919

  province

  Ávila, Ávila (Spain)

• 1919

  dealer/antiquarian

  Art market, Madrid, Madrid (Spain) *

• post. 1919 - present

  museum

  Victoria & Albert Museum, London (United Kingdom)