Page 46 - The mystery of faith

PABLO DE ROJAS

(Alcalá La Real 1549 – 1611 Granada)

WITH

PEDRO DE RAXIS

(Alcalá La Real 1555 – c.1600 Granada)

1. Reliquary Bust of a Saint Protomartyr (Saint Vincent of Saragossa?)

Wood, polychromed and gilded
77.5 x 28 x 40 cm (30 ½ x 11 x 15 ¾ in.)
PROVENANCE: private collection, Granada

During the Middle Ages the marketing and distribution of sacred relics amongst the faithful,
a practice that dates back to the very beginning of Christianity, evolved dramatically in form
and intent. The practice of incorporating relics into imágines, such as the silver images
preserved in the Patrimonio Artistico Aragonés, or encasing them within gilded and
polychromed wood sculptures spread throughout Europe. However, it was in the wake of the Council
of Trent, that is, after 1563, that the cult of the saints and the veneration of their relics became actively
promulgated by the Church as a doctrinal goal, which in effect was meant to act as a weapon against
the Protestant influences sweeping Europe. In Spain, using an idea long established in the French
Church, Philip II promoted the foundation and construction of the Hieronymite Monastery of El
Escorial in direct association with the collection of sacred relics. Within the monastery, two altars and
various cabinets were dedicated to the preservation and display of relics gathered from shrines
throughout the Iberian peninsula, as well as relics obtained directly from Rome, through the offices of
the Spanish ambassador.1 By the end of Philip’s reign in 1598 more than 409 reliquaries were housed
at the monastery, including a series of the heads of saints in silver gilt, which were commissioned by
Philip from the silversmith Antonio de Arfe.

In form, reliquaries could be made in the shape of boxes, or small temple-like buildings, following the
medieval tradition, or could be more specific to the actual relic, such as an arm or leg, to contain a
saint’s bone. Another option, which is similar in intent (if not material) to the silver gilt heads would
be a partially hollowed, polychromed and gilded bust of a saint, such as examples in the Royal Chapel
in Granada, or, indeed, as illustrated in the present work. This includes a portal (formerly glazed or
inset with crystal) through which the relic it would originally have contained might be seen.

On a public level, the cult of relics was particularly active in any cathedral city or its environs, or indeed
in any town that boasted a Jesuit church. In terms of private devotion, the nobility, who naturally
wished to emulate their king, took to patronising special chapels dedicated to various cult saints. In
Andalusia one such example of this patronage was Don Enrique de Guzmán, Conde Duque de Olivares,

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