Title

Tendant Angel. Stone Coat of Arms from the convent of San Francisco de Cuéllar (Segovia)

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Object history

This angel, identified with the number nine in its current location— thereconstructed premises of the Segovian monastery of Sacramenia in Miami, Florida—is part of a stone coat of arms of the Dukes of Alburquerque, composed of ten angels, which in turn come from another monument in the province of Segovia: the convent of San Francisco de Cuéllar. Merino de Cáceres identified and documented this sculptural group, which was incorporated into the wall of the reconstructed Sacramenia cloister in Miami (Merino de Cáceres, 1991). Two vestiges from different monuments in Segovia were thus united on the other side of the Atlantic, which is certainly a unique story. 

In their original location, the church of the convent of San Francisco de Cuéllar, these heralds served as a corbel from which the ribbing of the vault at the head of the temple began. The ensemble consisted of twelve angels, eight of which were located on the main pillars, while the other four were arranged on the octagonal apse of the presbytery. In the early years of the 20th century, the funerary ensemble at the head of the church was sold and exported. But the plundering continued after this significant loss; in 1915, the last member of the Alburquerque family who owned the convent church sold it to a private individual, Bienvenido Álvarez, who removed everything of value that remained in the building. Merino de Cáceres suggested that the removal of these supporting angels must have taken place around 1920-1922, when the vaults had already collapsed. The buyer of these pieces was William R. Hearst, the same collector who acquired the premises of the Sacramenia monastery through his agent in Spain, Arthur Byne. These sculptures were documented in the Hearst collections archive, accompanied by the respective photograph, until the number of angels reached ten. (S/B LOT # 639. CWPost, Long Island University. Hearst Archive). 

There are certain differences between each of the heralds in the set, but there is no doubt about their great artistic and, of course, historical interest. Their eventful history, from their origin to the present day, makes these pieces exceptional documents of the power of the Dukes of Alburquerque in the 15th and 16th centuries, and of the power of one of the greatest collectors of the 20th century: William R. Hearst.

The heraldic collection was put up for sale at the Hearst collection auction held at Saks & Gimbel's in 1941-1942. However, no buyer was found at that time and they were returned to the magnate's warehouses. In the catalog of the new sale that took place in 1951 at Parke-Bernet in New York, there is a lot referring to these pieces: "Ten Spanish Gothic limestone Armorial upright corbels (639-2 to 11)". According to Merino de Cáceres, "the set of coats of arms was purchased by Raimond Moss and William Edgmon for $1,490, when Hearst had originally paid $5,000 for them. The same buyers had acquired the Sacramenia monastery on December 4, at the pre-sale of the auction" (Merino de Cáceres, 1991, p. 125). These real estate agents were responsible for moving all these stones to Florida and reconstructing them in Miami Beach, with the aim of creating a tourist attraction dedicated to the Middle Ages. In the peculiar reconstruction of the Sacramenia monastic complex, completed on August 20, 1954, these supporting angels were placed on the enclosure walls of the cloistered pandas. They are embedded in the masonry of the walls, a place that has nothing to do with their original function, apart from the fact that they came from a different monument. However, such are the paradoxes of the journeys of works of art, as a result of the international trade in antiques, that cultural vestiges from Segovia from different periods ended up together in the same building, thousands of kilometers from the place for which they were created. 

Description

The angel bears the coat of arms of the Cueva family, as the temple of the convent of San Francisco de Cuéllar, from which it comes, was chosen by Don Beltrán de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, as the pantheon for his lineage. The town of Cuéllar was the center of his domain. In 1476, the duke received permission to build the chapel to house his mortal remains, which is why these heralds bear the family coat of arms, to the greater glory of his lineage. By then, his first wife, Mencía de Mendoza, had already passed away. The coats of arms shown here refer to Don Beltrán de la Cueva and Doña María de Velasco, daughter of the Counts of Haro and the Duke's third wife. 

In a will dated 1492, Don Beltrán de la Cueva stipulated that alabaster tombs should be made for all those who would be buried there: for himself and the then duchess, María de Velasco, as well as for his first two wives: Mencía de Mendoza and Mencía Enríquez. he also reserved a tomb for his brother, Gutierre de la Cueva, Bishop of Palencia. The first Duke of Alburquerque did not live to see the completion of the funerary complex, but he was buried there after his death on November 1, 1492. 

Locations

• Unknown date

  convent

  Convent of San Francisco, Cuéllar, Cuéllar (Spain)

• post. 1920 - 1951

  private collection

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

• 1951 - 1964

  Raimond Moss and William Edgmon, Miami (United States)

• ca. 1964 - present

  monastery

  The Spanish Ancient Monastery, Florida (United States)