Page 254 - The mystery of faith

The type of atlantes that Rovira embodied in the present sculptures
was based on a sixteenth-century Italianate Mannerist model, and
differs from the later Catalan Baroque examples produced by Grau
and Rovira the Younger after 1680. As atlantes, the present figures
sport cushions upon their heads, rather in the manner of sombreros,
which serve to replace the usual classical capitals. It is possible that
these figures were meant to represent two of the moral virtues, which
Peréz Santamaría believes would not have been unusual in the specific
context of Catalan art during the early seventeenth century. The lack
of specific attributes and the rather devout attitude expressed in both
figures further indicates that these sculptures were meant to illustrate
allegories of virtues, rather than specific saints.

Domènec Rovira the Greater was born in Sant Feliu de Guíxols in
Catalonia along what is now known as the Costa Brava. He travelled
at an early age to Barcelona, where he became apprenticed to Augustín
Pujol.10 Despite the fact that few works by Rovira survive, we
fortunately have some idea of their appearance thanks to surviving
contracts for their commissions. These same contracts also allow us to
place the atlantes chronologically within Rovira’s oeuvre. The first
document dated 1638 describes a shrine (sagrario) for the Church of
Sant Jaume (Saint James) in Barcelona.11 The following year the artist
signed two contracts, one for the high altar of the Monastery and
Convent of Bon Succés in Barcelona12 and the other for the altarpiece
Fig. 1 dedicated to Sant Pau (Saint Paul) in the Church of Santa María del
Mar in Barcelona. Even though these works no longer survive, the
sculptures and reliefs are described and we also have some old archival photographs. A piece of the
central part of the Sant Pau altar survives and it is this work that permits us to attribute the two
Atlantes considered here (Fig. 1), although the description in the contract makes no mention of works
such as the present sculptures.13 It is not possible to place our Atlantes in the context of the altarpiece
executed in 1665 for the Chapel of the Holy Cross and Mary Magdalen in the parish church of
Figueres, whose commissioning contract was published by Madurell,14 nor indeed as part of the large
altarpiece in the Church of Sant Feliu de Guíxols (1657–1678), the artist’s birthplace, which is
described by Barraquer.15 Fragments from the base of this last work are preserved in the town museum.
Martinell mentions a number of additional works, which had not been previously documented, among
these a retablo for the high altar at L’Arboç commissioned in 1670 from the artist and his nephew,
Domènec Rovira (the Younger). Still incomplete at his death in 1678, Rovira’s nephew finished the
work by 1681.16 Despite the fact that no photographs survive of this work we know that it included
jasper or marble decorations in its base, and atlantes which, having been executed after 1670 in the
later Baroque style, were quite different from the present works.

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