Title

Choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid

Amezúa, Rafael [attributed to] (Elorrio, ? - ?, ?)

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Object history

This monumental grille closed the choir in the central nave of the cathedral of Valladolid. It was installed there in 1763, during the bishopric of Isidro Cosío y Bustamente. It has been attributed to Rafael Amezúa, who had his forge workshop in Elorrio (Urrea, 1979). However, in 1923 the then bishop of the diocese, Remigio Gandásegui y Gorrochátegui (1871-1937) proposed to the chapter a renovation of the cathedral that implied, among other actions, the suppression of the low choir that was located in the second bay of the central nave. The objective was to achieve greater diaphanousness in the temple. Thus, after a series of sales of works of art, in order to raise funds with which to undertake the reform, it was finally the turn of the grille. In June 1928, the chapter of Valladolid proposed “the suppression of the grille of the Choir, because there was no room for a new enclosure without affecting the perspective of the Presbytery and the amplitude of the central nave” (Martínez Ruiz, 2008, p. 313). Once the original function was lost, in April 1929 the process that led to its rapid sale began: “The City Council approved the management of the Commission and agreed to sell the gate at one peseta fifteen cents per kilogram, after an expert appraisal and other canonical formalities” (Martínez Ruiz, 2008, p. 314.). The price was estimated to be convenient, taking into account that the appraisal was entrusted to the city's auctioneer, who valued the work at eighty or ninety cents per kilogram, that is, an appraisal by weight. The sale was approved in April 1929: “Having heard the manifestations of the Treasurer and not having received a better offer, the Cabildo proceeded with the authorization of the Prelate to the sale of the fence under the conditions expressed, also consenting to the sale for the same price of one peseta fifteen cents per kg. and having fulfilled all the canonical formalities....” (Martínez Ruiz, 2008, p. 315). 

The antiques agent who acquired the work was Arthur Byne, who had long been looking for a monumental grille to offer to his client W. R. Hearst (1863-1951). On April 25, 1929 Julia Morgan, the magnate's architect, received a telegram from Hearst's agents in Spain, Arthur Byne and his wife Mildred Stapley: “Just found grille fifty feet wide forty high = seventeen thousand dollars = urgent sale = can ship immediately = Stapley” (Merino de Cáceres and Martínez Ruiz, 2012, pp. 506-507). By letter, that same month, Byne informed Julia Morgan that the transaction was settled, sent her a photograph of the grille, in its original location, and claimed to have bought it and moved it to Madrid -we imagine to pressure his client to accept his offer-. The truth is that the severity of the piece did not make much of an impression on the magnate, who, despite his doubts about this work, ended up buying it. This caused quite a few headaches for Julia Morgan, who on April 29th of that year said she could not sleep at night, “imagining what the hell to do in a house with a 40 x 50 grille! -For the first time he has surpassed Mr. Hearst in scale” (translated, Merino de Cáceres, 1987, p. 451). The fact is that the collector never saw the work, because after its arrival in New York it was destined for one of his warehouses on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, where it remained for a long time. It was not until 1956, after the death of the magnate, when the Hearst Foundation bequeathed the work to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was installed in a large room at the main headquarters of the institution on Fifth Avenue in New York in 1957. In its presentation, it was emphasized how exceptional it was that a work of these characteristics, unique in its kind outside Spain, could be part of the catalog of the New York institution (Martínez Ruiz, 2018, p. 255).

Locations

• 1929

  cathedral

  Valladolid Cathedral, Valladolid (Spain)

• 1929

  dealer/antiquarian

  Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley Byne, Madrid (Spain) *

• 1929 - 1956

  private collection

  Collection of William R. Hearst, New York (United States) *

• 1956 - present

  museum

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (United States)