Title

Monstrance

original work author

Gago, Juan [school of] (Toro, ca. ? - ?, ?)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

Author's mark: Bull between the letters P and G, corresponding to the silversmith Pedro Gago from Toro, used by his son Juan Gago.

Object history

The journey of this monstrance is well known thanks to the historian José Navarro Talegón. It was he who identified the piece among the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in the late 1980s. He related it to the monstrance that was stolen from the collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor in Toro (Zamora) on the night of 25 to 26 November 1890. He was also aware of the appraisal document for the monstrance, which confirmed that it was made by the silversmith Juan Gago, from Toro, in 1538, commissioned by the Bishop of Zamora Pedro Manuel (Ob. 1534-1546).

After the theft, it is known that in 1893 the piece was in the hands of an anonymous French collector, according to an import mark that was added to the monstrance. In 1928, it became part of the collection of Swiss collector Alfred Rütschi and was exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Zurich, before being auctioned by the Fischer Gallery in Lucerne (Switzerland) in 1931. It was in lot 115 and was described as a Grande monstrance. Travail espagnol (Galerie Fischer, 1931). It was then acquired by Walter Leo Hildburgh, one of the main art donors to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, to which he bequeathed the monstrance after his death in 1955.

Thanks to the documentary contributions of Navarro Talegón, the intervention of certain political authorities and the participation of the Bishopric of Zamora, the London museum agreed to return the monstrance to the collegiate church of Toro in 2005, although on a long-term loan basis. Ownership remains with the museum, as W. L. Hildburgh's acquisition was legitimate and the property is protected by British law. In October 2025, the work returned temporarily to the Victoria & Albert Museum for an exhibition of religious silverware.

Description

The monstrance stands on a star-shaped hexagonal base. The surface of the base is divided into six vertical sections, forming a truncated pyramid structure. Each segment is decorated with abundant embossed decoration around rich balusters.

The knot is shaped like a jar, with handles and a central section with small half-length images showing some saints and apostles (St John the Baptist, St Andrew, St Peter, St Paul, St Bartholomew and St Thomas), identified by their iconographic attributes. The upper part of the knot is also decorated with medallions featuring the heads of the Sibyls and the instruments of the Passion.

Above stands the expositor, shaped like a small temple supported by four balustrade columns topped with tenant angels. The iconographic programme continues at the base of this structure, depicting various kings and prophets from the Old Testament arranged in tondos, alluding to the announcement of the coming of the Messiah and redemption through the body of Christ. Eight bells, commonly found in processional monstrances, also hang from this area, calling and inviting the faithful to contemplate and worship the Sacrament.

The space reserved for the viril is wide and richly crafted. It is placed on a surface decorated with spiral motifs and a conical structure with braiding. Between the columns are three trefoil arches, joined together like curtains and with one more bell on each front, highlighting the scenographic nature of the piece.

The roof of the temple features a series of sixteen reliefs depicting saints and apostles, covered with vegetal tracery, arranged in pairs separated by buttresses topped with pinnacles and open at the base to accommodate small cast figures. In contrast to the Old Testament images at the bottom, these figures are witnesses to the institutionalisation of the Eucharist and bear witness to the New Covenant.

The top of the monstrance is bulbous in shape, with four tondos at its base, arranged between pairs of facing figures. Two of them show busts and the other two the coats of arms of the aforementioned Bishop Pedro Manuel, as the patron. The piece is crowned by a cross in imitation of natural wood, raised on a conical support with plant decorations.

The base bears the maker's mark, a bull passing between the initials P and G. These refer to the mark used by Pedro Gago, Juan Gago's father, who continued to use the same punch as his father.

Charles Oman (1968, p. 23) dated the work to 1525 and linked it to the reliquary of Saint Froilán in León Cathedral, due to the abundance of Renaissance-influenced ornamental motifs and the repertoire of characters that appear in both pieces. The contributions of Navarro Talegón (1988 and 1999) and subsequent studies (Pérez Martín, 2013) attribute the work to Juan Gago, a silversmith from Toro who belonged to a prolific family of silversmiths whose work continued until the early 17th century.

Despite theft and various owners, the monstrance is in good condition and no significant losses or alterations have been reported. 

Locations

• 1538 - 1890

  church

  Collegiate Church of Santa María la Mayor in Toro, Toro (Spain)

• ca. 1893 - pre. 1931

  private collection

  Private Collection France, France (France) *

• ca. 1928 - 1931

  private collection

  Alfred Rütschi, Zúrich (Switzerland) *

• 1931 - 1955

  private collection

  Walter Leo Hildburgh, London (United Kingdom) *

• 1955 - present

  museum

  Victoria & Albert Museum, London (United Kingdom)