Gothic Sculpture in Spain: A Deep Dive
Gothic sculpture: General characteristics. The Gothic doorway
Gothic sculpture is very rich and, like architecture, constantly evolved, showing significant differences compared to the Romanesque.
Its key features are:
- The materials used are mainly stone (many outdoor types), alabaster and marble for tombs and altarpieces. Occasionally, wood was used for cult images, altars, and choir stalls, which were painted, gilded, or left natural. Ivory was used for small images. They were all finely textured and smooth.
- Sources of inspiration and themes remained the same as in the Romanesque period, fundamentally religious content. The bestiary is evident in the gargoyles. The naturalism characteristic of the Gothic period led to the appearance of portraiture.
- Sculptural types included relief and round sculpture, with relief dominating. Relief sculpture was generally connected to architecture, adapting to the framework but with more freedom in doorways and facades, gargoyles, pinnacles, key vaults, and capitals. Plant motifs (historically significant) also appeared. Relief sculpture could also be independent of architecture, as seen in tombs, altars, and choir stalls. From the fourteenth century, tombs in marble or alabaster developed in two types: free-standing or mound, with the reclining figure praying or lying on top (e.g., Charles III the Noble), and arcosolio, set into the wall under an arch (e.g., the Doncel de Sigüenza, depicting Martín Vázquez de Arce).
The development of the altarpiece paralleled the loss of wall space in Gothic buildings. Usually a set of panels assembled into a frame, it could also be made of stone. Two major Spanish examples are in the cathedrals of Toledo and Seville.
Free-standing sculpture greatly developed, a prelude to the sculpture’s emancipation from architecture in the Renaissance. This was due to the wide diffusion of small statues for rural churches or the private use of aristocrats and wealthy merchants. These were primarily devotional images, with subjects such as the Virgin and Child and the crucified Christ, and some new ones, such as the Pieta, depicting the dead Christ in Mary’s arms. A prominent example is the Virgen Blanca in Toledo Cathedral.
Color was very important, so polychromy was consistently used in sculpture, although natural wood (usually walnut) was used for choir stalls.
Gothic figurative sculpture was naturalistic, a major achievement. Characters were humanized while retaining a certain idealization. Bodies were more realistic and proportionate, with natural movement contributing to greater expressiveness. Figures laughed, suffered, and communicated, showing feelings. The Virgin and Child was no longer enthroned as in the Romanesque period, but depicted as a mother interacting with her child. The crucified Christ reflected suffering in his face and body, bloodied and half-naked, often with three nails and more movement, reflecting the weight of the body. Naturalism extended to folds, which were not merely an excuse to cover the body but an object of interest in themselves, making the figures more bulky and dynamic.
The Gothic doorway, flared as in the Romanesque, remained important for relief sculpture. The tympanum was the focal point, either single-space or subdivided into horizontal strips. In the archivolts, figures were arranged along the curves, not radially, separated by canopies. In the jambs, figures were larger, almost life-sized, resting on a base of diverse décor and protected by large canopies. The mullion usually hosted the image of the saint to whom the temple was dedicated. Sometimes, sculpture overflowed onto the cover and buttresses, forming galleries.
Thirteenth-century examples include the French portals of Amiens (Virgin Dorada), Reims (sets of the Annunciation, the smiling angel, and the Visitation—works of great classical style), and Chartres (triple portals of the transept). In Spain, examples include the Portal de Sarmental of Burgos Cathedral, the doors of the west facade of León Cathedral (the central one, called the Virgen Blanca, features a figure in the mullion), and the western part of the facade of Toledo Cathedral. Fourteenth-century examples include the Puerta del Reloj and the Door of Forgiveness in Toledo Cathedral. Although Gothic sculpture is mostly anonymous, some artists are known, including Claus Sluter, a fourteenth-century creator of a naturalistic style and great detail that foreshadowed the Renaissance while remaining Gothic. He worked for the Duke of Burgundy, creating works such as the tomb of Philip the Bold (a free-standing tomb of different colored marbles and alabaster, with funeral scenes on the sides depicting hooded figures in various attitudes of grief, a work widely influential in Europe) and the Well of Moses.
In fifteenth-century Spain, Burgundian influences were important due to strong trade relations with Burgundy. This period is called Hispano-Flemish. The greatest Spanish sculptor and one of the greatest in Europe was Gil de Siloé, author of the altarpiece of the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores (clearly showing the influence of German rosary altarpieces); the tomb of Don Alfonso and Juan II and Isabel of Portugal (brother and parents of Isabel the Catholic), the latter featuring an eight-pointed star, characteristic of Hispano-Flemish detail and richness.