The cathedral has other works which it owes to the years of Cano’s
residence. The beautiful frescoes of the Capilla Mayor, illustrating
scenes from the life of the Virgin, were his work. The lower stage of
the west façade we owe largely to him. He designed and superintended the
execution of two silver lamps for the principal chapel; he carved the
elaborate lectern of the choir, formed of fine woods, bronze, and
precious stones; and executed new portals for the sacristy. Two
medallions on copper of great delicacy were wrought for the Chapel of
the Trinity. Here the figures recall the Virgin in the group of Santa
Ana and Virgin and Child. In addition several important pictures were
painted for the dome of the Capilla Mayor, and others as altar-pieces
for the chapels. Some of these canvases disappeared when Granada was
stripped of so many of its treasures by the French. But a few fine
pictures remain. The Trinity in the chapel of that name, the Way of the
Cross in Nazareno Chapel, and the Virgen de la Soledad, which hangs over
the altar of San Miguel, are the most important.
This last-named painting is especially interesting to us, for there are
two pieces of sculpture certainly copied from it, one in the parish
church of Santa Ana, the other in the Church of Santa Paula. Both are
excellent. The Virgin has the delicacy and beauty that we expect from
Cano. The polychrome is subdued; the flesh of the face and the beautiful
folded hands are a dull pallor, befitting grief; the eyes and the tears
are formed by crystals, after the custom used by Gregorio Hernandez and
Juan de Juni. The dress, which is white, and the mantle, of bluish
black, are perfectly harmonious. These colours are a repetition of the
cathedral picture. And the question arises, are the sculptures also by
Cano? That of Santa Paula has always been ascribed to Josef de Mora. If
we accept this, we must account the Soledad of Santa Ana as the work of
Cano, and the Santa Paula as a splendid copy. But both statues are so
equally good, especially in the colouring, that the pupil’s work must
have been touched by the hand of the master. It is impossible to believe
that Josef de Mora could have achieved this masterpiece unaided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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