THE SACRISTY

The sacristy, a complete work by Andrés de Vandelvira?

The space originally intended for the sacristy in the 1536 project must have been considered insufficient for the liturgical splendour that Francisco de los Cobos and María de Mendoza wanted for their chapel. For this reason, in the new contract of 1540, Alonso Ruiz and Andrés de Vandelvira undertook with their signatures to "to build the sacristy in accordance with the design drawn up by the Dean of the work of the said church, communicating with the Dean the size and ornamentation that he considers appropriate.". From these words, historiography has deduced that the sacristy is entirely Vandelvira's creation.The execution, as in the rest of the chapel, in this space, in other words, in addition to the execution, as in the rest of the chapel, the tracesboth in plan and elevation, would also be theirs. Be that as it may, its position, oblique to the longitudinal axis of the chapel, appears already in the plant of the Santissima Anunziata of Florence and, on the other hand, its structure has a clear precedent in the SAcristía de las Cabezas of the Cathedral of SiguënzaThis was the work of Alonso Covarrubias in 1532 -which would become the classic of the Spanish Renaissance- and which Vandelvira would repeat in his splendid sacristy in the cathedral of Jaén: a rectangular nave, articulated in three bays with niche arches for the placement of the coffers, and covered -in what clearly distinguishes it from the one in Sigüenza- with vaulted vaults. image 1] [image 1

The vaulted vaults and the monumental statuary, a singularity of Vandelvira.

Uniqueness of this sacristy lies, on the one hand, in the Vandelvira's magnificent way of covering this tripartite space by means of three splendid vaulted ceilings.The second is the fact that they seem to be suspended above the entablature rather than resting [image 2] and, on the other hand, that, renouncing the Spanish Renaissance tradition, eliminated the columnar order and replaced it with a vertical order of monumental statuary.. this supporting function serves as a support for a complex decorative and iconographic programme drawn up, once again, by deán Ortega. Its execution is traditionally attributed to the sculptor of French origin, Esteban Jamete. [image 3]

This programme presents the Christian historiographical view of the three ages of the world. Thus, the two extremes of time are confronted. In the lower part, the ancient timesbefore Christ, represented by the atlantes and caryatids supporting the entablature, symbols of the pillars of ancient and modern civilisations. twelve sibyls of the spandrels of the arches. Above, the end time, the end of History, which will come with the second manifestation of Christ as Saviour. This end would be announced by the apocalyptic angels The vaults were supported on the keystones of the arches that support the vaults, and the members of the lineages of the founders would attend from the oculi immediately below: Cobos Molinaby Don Francisco, and Mendoza SarmientoThe coats of arms of Doña María, identified by their coats of arms [fig. 4]. The Messianic Age, as we have already seen, is situated between these two periods, and is developed in the entrance doorway.