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A Fifteenth-Century Plan of the Cathedral of Seville

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Begoña Alonso Ruiz  and
Alfonso Jiménez Martín
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Extract

This article focuses on a recently identified and hitherto unpublished drawing of Seville Cathedral, recently located in the Bidaurreta convent (and thus described in this article as the ‘Bidaurreta drawing’). This document is of international importance as it constitutes a rare example of a medieval drawing of a Gothic cathedral, and is indeed the oldest known complete ground plan of any Gothic cathedral. It is also the only plan preserved intact that depicts any fifteenth-century Gothic building in Castile. The drawing, which this article suggests dates from the third quarter of the fifteenth century, is a modified copy of a 1433 plan of Seville Cathedral. It records the building as it was in 1433 and some of the subsequent changes, undertaken as part of a building campaign that ultimately lasted until 1506, by means of which the cathedral took on its present form: 126.18 m in length, 82.6 m in width and 30.48 m high (Figs 1-2). This article traces the reconstruction work in detail by examining the original documentary sources, many not previously discussed in English, together with the evidence of the drawing itself.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 55 , 2012 , pp. 57 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. 2012

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References

Notes

1 Morales Martínez, Alfredo José, La Capilla Real de Sevilla (Seville, 1979), pp. 23–24 Google Scholar; Martín, Alfonso Jiménez and Peñaranda, Isabel Pérez, Cartografía de la Montaña Hueca. Notas sobre los pianos históricos de la catedral de Sevilla (Seville, 1997), pp. 61–73, 157.Google Scholar

2 On European architectural drawing, see Branner, Robert, ‘Drawings from a Thirteenth-Century Architect’s Shop: the Reims Palimpsest’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 17 (1958), pp. 9–21 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Branner, Robert, ‘Villard de Honnecourt, Reims and the Origin of Gothic Architectural Drawing’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 61 (1963), pp. 129–46Google Scholar; Bork, Robert, ‘Plan B and the Geometry of Façade Design at Strasbourg Cathedral, 1250-1350’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 64 (2005), pp. 442–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bucher, F., ‘Design in Gothic Architecture: a Preliminary Assessment’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 27 (1968), pp. 49–71 Google Scholar; Morgan, Bernard G., Canonic Design in English Medieval Architecture: the Origins and Nature of Systematic Architectural Design in England, 1215-1515 (Liverpool, 1961).Google Scholar In general: Bork, Robert, The Geometry of Creation. Architectural Drawing and the Dynamics of Gothic Design (London, 2011)Google Scholar; Schöller, Wolfgang, ‘Le Dessin d’architecture à l’époque gothique’, in Les Batîsseurs des cathédrales gothiques, ed. Recht, Roland and le Goff, Jacques (Strasbourg, 1989), pp. 227–35Google Scholar; Recht, Roland, ‘Sur le Dessin d’architecture gothique’, in Etudes d’art médiéval offerts a Louis Grodecki, ed. Crosby, Sumner McKnight (Paris, 1981), pp. 233–43Google Scholar, and Recht, Roland, Le Dessin d’architecture: origine et fontions (París, 1995).Google Scholar The Spanish bibliography on the topic is not very numerous, but is summarized in Martín, Alfonso Jiménez, ‘El arquitecto tardogótico a través de sus dibujos’, in La arquitectura tardogótico castellana entre Europa y América, ed. Ruiz, Begoña Alonso (Madrid, 2011), pp. 389–416.Google Scholar See also Vidal, J. Ortega, ‘Una muestra del dibujo de la arquitectura en la España Dorada’, Las trazas de Juan de Herrera y sus seguidores (Salamanca, 2001), pp. 337–415.Google Scholar

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6 This was the main anomaly of the city’s two mosques, one from the ninth century and the other from the twelfth, which did not face Mecca.

7 The documents referring to the negotiations prior to the city’s surrender mention the Christians’ threat to kill a Muslim for each brick that a Muslim tore down from the mosque. See Seville, Biblioteca Capitular y Colombina (Cathedral Chapter and Columbian Library, hereafter referred to as ‘BCC’), MS 83-7-21, fol. 255, and Martín, Alfonso Jiménez and Cabeza Méndez, José María, Tvrris Fortissima. Documentos sobre la constructión, acreceniamiento y restauracion de la Giralda (Sevilla, 1988), p. 203.Google Scholar

8 Parallels are found in other mosques that were Christianized after the reconquest by the Castilian kings of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Cordoba, Malaga and Granada.

9 Martín, Alfonso Jiménez, ‘Los primeros años de la catedral de Sevilla: nombres, fechas y dibujos’, Los últimos arquitectos del gótico, ed. Ruiz, Begoña Alonso (Madrid, 2010), pp. 15–69 (p.16).Google Scholar

10 In general, Estéez, Juan Clemente Rodríguez, Los canteros de la catedral de Sevilla. Del Gótico al Renacimiento (Seville, 1998).Google Scholar Also, Estévez, Juan Clemente Rodríguez, ‘Los constructores de la catedral’, in La catedral gótica de Sevilla. Fundación fábrica de la obra nueva, ed. Martín, Alfonso Jiménez (Seville, 2006), pp. 167–70 and 186-201.Google Scholar

11 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Los primeros años’, pp. 15–69.Google Scholar

12 Seville, Archive of the Cathedral (hereafter ‘ACS’), General Historical Collection, bundle 182, document 122.

13 Ibid, page 5, entry 1.

14 de Zúñiga, Diego Ortiz, Annales eclesiásticos y seculares de la muy noble, y muy leal Cividad de Sevilla, metrópoli de la Andaluzía que contienen sus mas principales memorias. Desde el año de 1246, en que emprendió conquistarla del poder de los Mows el gloriosísimo Rey S. Fernando III de Castilla y León, hasta el de 1671 en que la Católica Iglesia le concedió el culto y título de Bienaventurado (Seville, 1988), p. 385.Google Scholar Also A. Muñiz, Insinuazion Apologetica al Rey nuestro Señor Don Carlos Segundo, que Dios gde Por su Santa y Rl capilla de la Ziuda de Sevilla, fols 83V-84, consulted in BCC, MS 57-3-40.

15 Martín, Alfonso Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas. Selección critica de fuentes documentales para la cronología del edificio medieval’, in La catedral gotica de Sevilla. Fundacion fábrica de la obra nueva, ed. Martín, Alfonso Jiménez (Seville, 2006), p. 50.Google Scholar

16 de Terán Sánchez, Antonio Collantes, ‘Una ciudad, una catedral’, La catedral gótica de Sevilla. Fundación y fábrica de la obra nueva (Sevilla, 2006), p. 123.Google Scholar

17 ACS, Administrative section 09335.

18 Álvarez Márquez, María del Carmen, ‘Notas para la historia de la Catedral de Sevilla en el primer tercio del siglo XV’, Laboratorio de Arte, 3 (1991), pp. 11–31 (p. 22).Google Scholar

19 For instance, Márquez, Teodoro Falcón, ‘El edificio gótico’, in La Catedral de Sevilla, ed. Iñiguez, Diego Angulo and Ladislao, Luis Arenas (Seville, 1984)Google Scholar, asserts that the works commenced in 1401 or shortly thereafter.

20 ACS, Building section 09336, p. 8.

21 Ibid, p. 11.

22 Ibid, p. 13V.

23 Martin, Jiménez, ‘Los primeros años’, pp. 31–33.Google Scholar

24 ACS, Building section 09336, p. 26v.

25 Ibid, p. 34V.

26 Ibid, p. 35.

27 The flight to Rome of the majordomo led to various inquiries, attested to by abundant surviving documentation in which one finds the first reference to Carlín’s presence in the cathedral work. See Martín, Jiménez, ‘Los primeros años’, p. 37.Google Scholar

28 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, p. 52.Google Scholar

29 ACS, General Historical Collection, bundle 156, document 17/5, p. 3v.

30 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, p. 64 Google Scholar; the date is that of the end of the last account book in which Carlin appears.

31 Ibid, p. 64.

32 Ibid, p. 65. In the cathedral’s libro de fábrica appears the statement ‘recognosçer la obra e faser muestras, etc’. We understand ‘taking some samples’ to mean making drawings of architectural elements.

33 Catalán, Arturo Zaragozá and Lozano, Mercedes Gómez-Ferrer, Fere Compte, arquitecto (Valencia, 2007), p. 167.Google Scholar

34 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Los primeros años’, p. 48.Google Scholar

35 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, p. 58.Google Scholar

36 Marquez, Teodoro Falcón, La catedral de Sevilla. Estudio arquitectónico (Seville, 1980), p. 125.Google Scholar

37 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, pp. 67 and 74Google Scholar; Seville, Archive of Notarial Protocols (hereafter ’APNS’), signature 5.7, p. 8.

38 Márquez, Falcón, La catedral de Sevilla, pp. 80 and 81.Google Scholar

39 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, p. 85.Google Scholar

40 Münzer, Jerónimo, Viaje por España y Portugal (1494-1495) (Madrid, 1991), p. 155.Google Scholar

41 Martínez, Morales, La Capilla Real de Sevilla, pp. 20–26 Google Scholar; Martín, Alfonso Jiménez and Peñaranda, Isabel Pérez, Cartografía de la Montaña Hueca (Seville, 1997), pp. 70–73.Google Scholar

42 Lanzagorta Arco, María José and Molero Esteban, María Ángeles, Los Lazarraga y el convento de Bidaurreta (sighs XVI-XVIII). Un linaje en la historia de Oñate (San Sebastián, 1999), p. 47.Google Scholar

43 Briquet, Charles Moïse, Les Filigranes. Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier des leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu’en 1600 (New York, 1985).Google Scholar See watermarks 4688, 4689, 4690 and 4691.

44 Salinero, Fernando Garcia, Léxico de Alarifes del Siglo de Oro (Madrid, 1968), p. 194.Google Scholar

45 Like the vaults in the nave of the cathedral of Burgos, which are in turn based on the vaults at Coutances (France). Observations of the authors.

46 Medieval text is reproduced using modern Spanish spelling.

47 Allende, Jorge Maier and Gorbea, Martín Almagro-Basch, Real Academia de la Historia. Catálogo del Gabinete de Antigüedades. Antigüedades de los sighs XVI-XX (Madrid, 2005), pp. 49–51.Google Scholar

48 Gazeta de Madrid, no. 6763 (28 December 1852), p. 4.

49 Martín, Jiménez and Peñaranda, Pérez, Cartografía de la Montaña Hueca, p. 72.Google Scholar

50 ACS, Fábrica section 09340, p. 69; the abundance of cases rules out any mistake.

51 Martín, Jiménez, ‘Las fechas de las formas’, p. 54. Google Scholar

52 Ibid, p. 53.

53 See n. 1 above.

54 On the Tortosa drawing: Almuni Balada, María Victoria and i Guinovart, J. Lluís, ‘La Traça de la catedral de Tortosa. Els models d’Antoni Guarc i Bernat Dalguaire’, Lombard: estudis d’art medieval, 9 (1996), pp. 23–37.Google Scholar The Lleida pinnacle, attributed to Guillem Solivella, c. 1400, in the Archive of the Cathedral of Lleida (Spain) was published in i Llevot, F. Fité, ‘Dibuix de pinacle’, L’esplendor retrobada (Lleida, 2003), pp. 257–58.Google Scholar

55 It was produced on 27 April 1408, as indicated on the parchment currently held in the room at the cathedral known as the ‘sala de la traça’ (’plan room’). See Nonell, J. Bassegoda, ‘La fachada de la catedral de Barcelona’, Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias y Artes de Barcelona (Barcelona, 1981), XLV, pp. 263–307 Google Scholar, and ‘La façana major de la Seu de Barcelona’, Lambard. Estudis d’art medieval, IX (1997), pp. 175–205.Google Scholar

56 Drawing of the chevet of San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, 960 mm x 1940 mm, ink on parchment (Prado Museum, Madrid). Of the extensive bibliography on this drawing, see in particular Sanabria, Sergio Luis, ‘A Late Gothic Drawing of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo at the Prado Museum in Madrid’, journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 51 (1992), pp. 161–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A complete list of Spanish Gothic drawings is found in Jiménez Martín, ‘El arquitecto tardogótico a través de sus dibujos’, pp. 389-416.

57 See n. 2 above.

58 Ackerman, James S., ‘“Ars sine scientia nihil est”, Gothic Theory of Architecture at the Cathedral of Milan’, Art Bulletin, 31.2 (1949), pp. 84–111 Google Scholar, and Frommel, C., ‘Sulla nascita del disegno architettonico’, in Rinascimento da Brunelleschi a Michelangelo. La rapresentazione dell’Architettura, ed. Millon, Henry A. and Lampugnani, Vittorio Magnago (Milan, 1994), pp. 101–21.Google Scholar

59 Pierre du Colombier, Les Chantiers des cathedrales (Paris, 1973), p. 86 Google Scholar, For the knowledge and technologies of the medieval builder, see Kimpel, Dieter, ‘Les Methodes de production des cathedrales’, in Les Batîsseurs des cathédrales gothiques, ed. Recht, Roland and Le Goff, Jacques (Strasbourg, 1989), pp. 91–101 Google Scholar; Coldstream, Nicola, Artesanos medievales. Constructores y escultores (Madrid, 1998)Google Scholar; Ramos, Rafael Cómez, Los constructores de la Espafia Medieval (Sevilla, 2001)Google Scholar; Fitchen, J. F., The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals (Oxford, 1961)Google Scholar; Frankl, P., ‘The Secret of the Medieval Mason’, Art Bulletin, 27 (1945), pp. 46–64 Google Scholar; Freigang, Christian, ‘La construcción medieval’, El gotico, ed. Toman, Rolf (Colonia, 1998), pp. 154–55Google Scholar, and Harvey, John, The Master Builders. Architecture in the Middle Ages (London, 1971)Google Scholar; Jacobs, D., Los constructores de catedrales en al Edad Media (Barcelona, 1974)Google Scholar; and Shelby, L. R., ‘The Geometrical Knowledge of the Medieval Master Masons’, Speculum, 47 (1972), pp. 395–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

60 Kimpel, Dieter, ‘La actividad constructiva en la edad media: estructura y evoluçion’, in Talleres de arquitectura en la edad media, ed. Cassinelli, Dins Roberto (Barcelona, 1992), pp. 11–50 (p. 42).Google Scholar

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63 On the Coria ground plan, see Sánchez Lomba, F. M., ‘Martín de Solórzano: la influencia de Santo Tomás de Ávila en los proyectos constructivos de la Catedral de Coria’, Norba-Arte, 3 (1982), pp. 63–76.Google Scholar On the Cathedral of Segovia, see Casaseca, A. Casaseca, ‘Trazas para la catedral de Segovia’, Archivo Español de Arte, 51 (1978), pp. 29 and ff.Google Scholar

64 See, for example, the drawing by Antón Egas, Alonso de Covarrubias and Juan Torollo with Martín de Santiago for the sick bay cloister at the Monastery of Guadalupe (6-II-1525), Juan de Vallejo’s project plans for the parish church of Villagonzalo de Pedernales (Burgos province), the plan for the Convent of San Telmo in San Sebastián produced by Fray Martín de Santiago in 1542, the drawing for the Cathedral of Coria by Pedro de Ibarra and the plan of the Fonseca College in Santiago de Compostela produced by the master builder Juan Pérez and published in Santamaria, Ana Castro, Juan de Àlava. Arquitecto del Renacimiento (Salamanca, 2001), fig. 227.Google Scholar

65 Good examples are the ‘Burlington’ drawing of the Palace of Charles V in Granada, attributed to Machuca, and the elevation of the Casa de los Miradores (House of the Balconies) in the same city, drawn by Siloé. See Marías, Fernando, El largo sigh XVI. Los usos artísticos del Renacimiento español (Madrid, 1989), pp. 503–05.Google Scholar

66 These are the measurements of a parchment from Guadalupe (Cáceres, Spain), which is held at the National Historical Archive (Madrid), Clergy, Plans and Drawings, 27, and was used in 1528. The largest-sized parchment could measure up to 1.00 m x 1.20 m, which is the maximum standard size on the market today, and was large enough to draw the ground plan of the cathedral to a scale of 1 /108.

67 Simancas, General Archive (‘AGS’), Registro General del Sello (General Record of the Seal), 31 May 1502, transcript in Ros, María Comas, 1 Juan López de Lazarraga, secretario de los Reyes Católicos y el monasterio de Bidaurreta en la villa de Oñate (Barcelona, 1936)Google Scholar; Escudero López, José Antonio, Los secretaries de Estado y del Despacho (1474-1724) (Madrid, 1976), pp. 607–08Google Scholar; Gómez, Marcos Fernández and Salcedo, Pilar Ostos, El Jumbo de los Reyes Católicos del Concejo de Sevilla (Madrid, 2003), p. 320 Google Scholar, and Gómez, Marcos Fernández and Salcedo, Pilar Ostos, El Tumbo de los Reyes Católicos del Concejo de Sevilla (Madrid, 2004), pp. 200 and 207.Google Scholar

68 Romero, Iñaki Zumalde, ‘Juan López de Lazarraga’, Boletín de la Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País, 47 1991, P. 385 Google Scholar

69 The money from the will was deposited in Modena (Italy) and was at the disposal of Juan López de Lazarraga, Zumalde Romero, ‘Juan López de Lazarraga’, p. 379.

70 Romero, Zumalde, ‘Juan López de Lazarraga’, p. 385.Google Scholar AGS, Consejo de la Camara de Castilla (Council of the Chamber of Castile), CED, 7, 139, 4.

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79 Esteban, Molero and Arco, Lanzagorta, ‘La fundación del convento’, p. 41 Google Scholar; Romero, Zumalde, ‘Juan López de Lazarraga’, p. 388.Google Scholar

80 Bidaurreta, Archive of the Convent, bundle 1, no. 6.