Page 293 - Perú indígena y virreinal

in Castile which is probably where he did his training. According to tradition a surviving work of his is the Adoración de los Pastores placed in the entrance to the cathedral sacristy.
In Cusco, as early as the 16th Century locally found materials began to be used for statues, due to the early incorporation of indigenous craftsmen. One of the most frequently used materials was maguey, derived from a native cactus plant which provided a cheap and light substitute to wood. Used together with Spanish cloth maguey came to replace cedar, which was scarce in the Andes, leading to peculiar visual effects in the shadowy interior of the temples. This was the way in which the image of the Señor de los Temblores was made in the second half of the century for the cathedral, though a persistent oral tradition considers it to be a gift from Charles V. In appearance it resembles the medieval Spanish Christs, especially that of Burgos. This is also true of the Cristo de las Ánimas in the church of El Triunfo. From this point on local carvers began to distance themselves from Spanish sculpture, a large part of which was lost after the earthquake of 1650.
THE ITALIAN MASTERS
From the last quarter of the 16th Century the Italian masters who dominated the field of painting were also highly active in the field of sculpture. Spurred on by the decorative needs of the religious buildings that were being built, Bernardo Bitti. Mateo Pérez de Alesio and Angelino Medoro all tackled carved work and joinery. In their own way they managed to transfer the Italian styles promulgated by the Counter-reformation to the Spanish mode of polychromatic woodcarving.
The Jesuit Bitti was aided in this by another member of the order Pedro de Vargas, with whom he moved to Cusco in 1582 after having decorated the church in Lima. The Bittiesque in contrapposto style, with its elegant elongated figures, had an influence throughout the South Andean region due to the relentless travels of these artists. Apart from altarpieces they created images of devotion such as the lost Niño de Huanca carved by Bitti or an ancient copy of the Virgen de Copacabana traditionally attributed to Vargas in the church of Chinchaypujio. However these models did not have as great an influence as their painting and were rapidly displaced by the burgeoning naturalist tendencies of the Hispanic sculptors.
THE EVOLUTION TOWARDS REALISM
The transition towards a Baroque style with a strong naturalistic current could already be felt by the beginning of the 17th Century. Through Sevillian artists living in Lima such as Martin de Oviedo and Martín Alonso de Mesa, the first Montañesino style influences were soon making themselves known in Cusco and the southern regions. Oviedo was a follower of Juan Bautista Vázquez and a close friend of the young Martínez Montañes. He passed through Mexico in 1594 and from 1600 onwards was active in Lima. Among the few identified works we have the panels from the ancient altarpiece of San José in Lima cathedral which still have something of the Italianate style.
Mesa belonged to the same generation though his work evinces a more advanced style closer to the Montañesino tastes. From 1602, the year of his arrival, until his death in 1626 he was highly active in the capital of the viceroyalty. He was given the job of making the San Juan Evangelista, the title image of the cathedral, which gives some indication of his local fame. In Lima during the disputes over the commission for the choir stalls Mesa went as far as to boast that “As is well known in this kingdom, there is no-one better than I in the art of sculpture”.
From within this atmosphere of marked Andalusian inflected styles arose a first generation of Creole sculptors such as Pedro Muñóz de Alvarado, who was most likely from Lima, and the Mexican Juan García Salguero. Muñóz de Alvarado was responsible for the grouping of the Holy Family (1633) in the cathedral of Lima, a work which carries traces of the Montañesino style which was dominant in the city.
At the same time the massive importation of the works of Martínez Montañés and his workshop must have had a considerable effect on the rise of the Lima sculpture school. Between 1591 and 1640 the orders from Montañés’ workshop are documented almost incessantly. The most important among then was undoubtedly the monumental altarpiece of San Juan Bautista, sent in various stages between 1607 and 1622. Its destination was the monastery of the Conception from where it was moved to the
cathedral in 20th Century. It is a “storytelling” altar whose panels show a sequence of the central scenes from the life of the titular saint.
The work of a second generation of Andalusian sculptors would be added to these mentioned pieces; Gaspar de la Cueva, Luis de Espíndola Villavicencio, Pedro de Noguera and Luis Ortiz de Vargas. All of them, together with the veteran Martín Alonso de Mesa would be involved in the historic dispute over the choir stalls of Lima cathedral, a key work of the period.
THE SPLENDOUR OF THE CHOIR STALLS
Around the competition for the choir stalls in the cathedral of Lima there was a solid nucleus of Andalusian sculptors influenced by the style of Montañés, who left a strong imprint on local sculpture. While Martín Alonso de Mesa was given the task of the overall design, Luis Ortiz de Vargas drew up the conditions for presentations of bids for the public award. Both these artists put in their own bids alongside Gaspar de la Cueva, Pedro de Noguera and Luis de Espíndola. For years the judgement was delayed by political manoeuvring until the commission was finally given—not without protest—to Noguera. The losers attempted to join in with the works but ended up by moving on. Mesa died in 1626 and a short time later Cueva and Espíndola moved to Charcas. On deciding to return to Spain in 1627 Ortiz de Vargas left the way open to Noguera who would be the sole author of this splendid choir stall which was finished in 1623.
Clear antecedents of this fundamental work can be found in the drawers of the same cathedral (1608) and in the choir of Santa Domingo (1603) both works by Juan Martínez de Arrona. As far as the architectural layout is concerned, Noguera adhered strictly to the design by Mesa. The most worthy and original work was in the panels in which the saints are vigorously constructed. The overall plan did not specify these kinds of details. The iconographic scheme, which included learned quotations, allegories and even mythological motifs, is a perfect example of the reigning humanist climate among the religious hierarchy of the time.
A short time after its completion, this choir stall exercised a mayor influence on the development of Peruvian art. Here for the first time are the “frontispieces” or curved pediments above which we find little angels or seated putti. As time went on this element would become a leitmotiv in portals and altarpieces throughout the viceroyalty. The design had come from Mesa and was taken to Cusco by his son Pedro around 1633 where these features were incorporated in the local art of sculpture.
By then choir stalls had become one of the key genres in sculpture, which were to be found in the cities of the viceroyalty. Lima still has a large number of them with a typology that was gradually evolving towards a particularly local character as in that of San Francisco (1674), for example, attributed to an anonymous Creole carver. The example of Noguera’s choir stall would have a clear effect in Cusco especially in the Franciscan choir stall. Later on the cathedral choir stall from the time of Mollinedo (ca.1675) would reveal a further evolution of this typology towards a fuller Baroque style removed from the classicism of Noguera.
THE REGIONAL SCHOOLS AND INDIGENOUS SCULPTORS
Around mid-century the workshops directed by Creole masters or by Spaniards who had trained in the country, would begin to influence the character of the regional schools. This process can be seemed most easily in the case of the joiners. At this time in Lima the main commissions were disputed between Asensio de Salas and friar Cristóbal Caballero. Both of them defined the typology of the first Baroque, seen in the altarpiece from the cathedral of La Purísima assembled by Salas in 1656. This is one of the few surviving pieces in this style, which was later transferred to portal architecture.
Working in close collaboration with Salas at that time was Bernardo de Robles y Lorenzana, a sculptor from Salamanca who had been in Lima since around 1645. Despite having trained in his hometown, after time spent in Seville and later moving to Peru, Robles adopted the dominant Montañesino style without reservations. This can be seen in works such as La Purísima (1656) which dominated the altarpiece put together by Salas in the cathedral. A few years later Robles worked in Arequipa before returning to Salamanca. His art shows an identification with the local religion, especially in the
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