Page 232 - The mystery of faith

large Inmaculadas from San Francisco in Valladolid (1617) and Nuestra Señora del Abrojo10 do not
survive, their impact is preserved in the very dignified Inmaculada from Vera Cruz in Salamanca (1620;
see Fig. 2). This, the most monumental example to come down to us, stands on an elaborate base formed
of semi-spherical clouds in which there is a dragon, similar to one in an Inmaculada in Astorga
Cathedral (Fig. 3). This sculpture by Gregorio must have been made by 1626 when Juan de Peñalosa
wrote that, while Fernández had already made other famous works, here, he had outdone himself.11
Another early Inmaculada from the Convent of Santa Clara in Peñafiel is considered to date prior to
1620.12 It is then followed by yet another example in the Convent of La Encarnacion in Madrid (1620s);
the Santa Eulalia in Paredes de Nava (1626–1630);13 and the Inmaculada from San Marcelo in León,
which is undocumented but of very high quality and datable to between 1620 and 1630 (Fig. 4).14
Further examples include the Inmaculadas from the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Zamora
(c. 1629–1630);15 from the Carmelite Convent of the Extramuros in Valladolid (around 1632); from
the Convent of Santa Clara in Valladolid;16 and another from the Escuola de Corpus Christi in
Valencia, which was donated in 1639 by the counts of Castro, and is datable to between 1631 and
1636.17

1 This sculpture was previously attributed to Gregorio Castilla. Escultores, Valladolid 1941, p. 175; MARTÍN
Fernández. GONZÁLEZ, El escultor Gregorio Fernández cit., pp. 225,
233–234.
2 J. JOSÉ MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, ‘Sobre la etapa vallisoletana de
Luis Fernández de la Vega’, in Boletín del Seminario de 9 MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, El escultor Gregorio Fernández cit., p.
Estudios de Arte y Arqueología, Universidad de Valladolid, 224.
1983, vol. XLIX, pp. 481–483; see also G. RAMALLO ASENSIO,
Luis Fernández de la Vega, escultor asturiano del siglo XVII, 10 Ibid., p. 233.
Oviedo 1983; G. RAMALLO ASENSIO, Escultura barroca en
Asturias, Oviedo 1985, pp. 143–230. 11 Ibid., p. 225. See also S. ESCANCIANO, ‘Una Inmaculada de
Gregorio Fernández en la catedral de Astorga’, in Archivo
3 F. DE CASO and G. RAMALLO ASENSIO, La catedral de Oviedo, Español de Arte, 1950, p. 73.
León 1983, pp. 64–66, 72–77.
12 MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, El escultor Gregorio Fernández cit.,
4 On the subject of the Immaculate Conception in general, p. 231.
see the work of S. STRATTON-PRUITT, La Inmaculada
Concepción en el arte español, Madrid 1989. 13 Ibid., p. 230.

5 DE CASO and RAMALLO, La catedral de Oviedo cit., pp. 14 Ibid., pp. 231–232.
54–57.
15 L. VASALLO TORANZO and F. JAVIER LORENZO PINAR, ‘Otra
6 J. JOSÉ MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, El escultor Gregorio Fernández, Inmaculada inédita de Gregorio Fernández’, in Boletín del
Madrid 1980, pp. 224–225, pls. 201, 202. Museo Nacional de Escultura de Valladolid, no. 5, 2001, pp.
10–13.
7 Ibid., p. 233, pl. 211b. See also M. A. FERNÁNDEZ DEL HOYO,
Patrimonio perdido. Conventos desaparecidos de Valladolid, 16 Gregorio Fernández, 1576–1636, exhibition catalogue,
Valladolid 1998, pp, 69–70, 95. Exposition Galleries of Banco Santander Central Hispano,
Madrid 2000, pp. 152–153.
8 E. GARCÍA CHICO, Documentos para el estudio del arte en
17 MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ, El escultor Gregorio Fernández cit.,
p. 229.

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