Bartolomé Ordóñez

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Bartolomé Ordóñez (

Spanish Renaissance
sculptor.

Life and work

Granada. Royal Chapel. Tomb of Felipe I and Juana la Loca

Little is known about Ordóñez before the last five years of his life. His

hidalgo born in Burgos, and that he had a sister named Marina in that city. Assuming this is correct, he would have grown up amidst the first flowering of the Spanish Renaissance, where such pioneers as Andrés de Nájera were working, under the influence of Gil de Siloé, who had studied in Italy, and Domenico Fancelli, who was from Italy.[1]

In 1515 he established a studio in Barcelona, accompanied by three Italian marble sculptors, who came with him: Simón de Bellalana, Victorio Cogono and Juan Florentino. Even then, we know nothing of his actual work for the next two years. The cathedral chapter commissioned him 7 May 1517 to construct the

redeemed from Hell by the risen Christ.

This work on the Cathedral of Barcelona was executed in two stages. After the stage just described, Ordóñez made a documented visit to

retrochoir of the Cathedral of Barcelona the marble sheathing and architecture of the circular chapel (later echoed by the Guadix Cathedral) can probably also be attributed to Ordoñez. The altarpiece includes an excellent relief representing the Adoration of the Magi, with a delicate pyramidal composition reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci, very balanced, and a perfect, nearly painterly, technique. This may not be Ordóñez's only work in Naples: he is believed to have designed and executed funerary monuments of Galeazzo Pandone in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore and of Andrea Bonifacio Cicaro
in the Church of Saints Severinus and Sosius.

Cathedral of Barcelona
.

Upon returning to Barcelona at the beginning of 1519 he married Catalina Calaf. His stay in Barcelona was not prolonged: in autumn of the same year, he left for

Raymond of Peñafort date from the 17th century.[3]

Other possible works of his in Spain are the

Cathedral of Valencia. On 1 May 1519, he undertook a contract for work previously contracted to Domenico Fancelli: the tombs of Philip I and Joanna of Castile in Granada and of Cardinal Cisneros in Alcalá de Henares, and according to his last will, those of some of the Fonseca family. He traveled to Carrara
, with the intent of returning to Barcelona, but upon the death of his wife he started a new studio in Carrara; he worked feverishly there, but he himself died the following year.

He left the tomb of Joanna and Felipe for the

Saint Andrew at the corners, are the recumbent forms of the monarchs depicted with idealized faces. Each section of the main body of the tomb is decorated with reliefs; the most notable by Ordóñez are the Nativity, the Adoration of the Kings, the Agony in the Garden and the Descent from the Cross
, but there are a plenitude of other figures and ornamental elements.

The tomb of Cardinal Cisneros, which was left incomplete, is of inferior quality; the recumbent figure of the Cardinal was completed, austere and realistic with the air of a portrait. This tomb, made for the Chapel of the

Latin Fathers
of with emblems of the liberal arts situated in the niches.

The tombs of the Fonsecas in

Cathedral of Zamora
) are according to Gómez Moreno, mentioned in the inventory of his studio by the Fonsecas.

Notes

  1. ^ That is, the placement of the body of Jesus either on a slab (as in this portrayal) or into the arms of his mother immediately after the Descent from the Cross.
  1. ^ Ramon Triadó, Joan, p.33
  2. ^ Ramon Triadó, Joan p. 34

References

Portions of this article are translated from an article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which, in turn incorporates material from the Gran Enciclopedia Rialp. An
GFDL. The authorization was revoked
in April 2008, so we cannot add further content from that encyclopedia (although it can be used as a normal reference).