Spanish Nativity

Mepkin 2009

I’m taking a break from my slow progress through the 2009 Congreso to give a quick glimpse of the Mepkin Abbey exhibit this year.  Every year, over Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend after, the monks turn over their library to a display of Nativity Scenes, some on loan for the exhibition and some from their permanent collection.  There are fifty works exhibited every year, from all over the world and in every style conceivable. I’m just going to show you  my two favorites.

The first was a traditional Italian carved and painted wooden set by Rupert Reindel, done in 2008. It is on loan from St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. The figures looked to be 45 cm figures and are exquisitely finished.

The second wasn’t exactly a creche, but was a remarkable explosion of angels around the Virgin and Child; it’s made of papier mache and was created by the Peruvian craftsman Hilario Mendivil in 1975. 

Each angel in the Celestial Choir (or band, in this case!) is different and detailed, and Our Lady’s feathered hat is splendidly Peruvian.

Alas, there was only one very tiny Spanish scene (2-3 cm figures) and even that one was mislabeled.

Arte Martinez in Horche

One of the highlights of the Congreso for me was not directly related to belenes.  It was our trip to visit the talleres (workshops or studios) of the company Talleres ArteMartínez in the town of Horche, where we ate lunch and dinner during the Congreso.

The company owes its origins to work done by its founder, Juan Francisco Martínez, it 1942 to rebuild an altarpiece for a local church destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Guadalajara suffered particularly heavy damage, and and there was a desperate need to rebuild the many churches that had been destroyed in bombardments or simply burned and destroyed by the Communist forces. It is family run, and the grandchildren of the founder are now the owners and among the company’s artists.

The founder’s first project was a reredos (retablo in Spanish) for a church in Horche. He created it out of plaster, an economical way of creating statuary and church fixtures that has been in use for centuries.  From this, he went on to other projects, and eventually his son, Jose Antonio, a gifted artist, took over the business.

The company shifted to working in wood as well as plaster, and in 1971shifted entirely to wood.  The figures are made the traditional way, carved and then finished with a layer of gesso and painted and gold-leafed.

The Artemartínez workshop is a multi-sensory experience, because the first thing that strikes you when you enter is the spicy smell of freshly carved wood, mixed with the sweet smell of the oils and paints used in finishing and polychroming the works.

Arte Martínez makes everything, from fairly modest, home-sized statues to entire altarpieces and also does commissions.  In addition, it produces decorative works for home furnishing, such as mirror frames and lamps.  Naturally, they also make Nativity figures, but they are groupings, such as the large group that you saw in the preceding post, or small figures for what might be described as a "table top Misterio."  However, they are very beautiful and while you wouldn't build a scene with them, they would certainly be wonderful for your church - or even your table top.

The building is perched on the very edge of the hill where Horche is located and overlooks the wide valley.  We came out onto the little stretch of road in front of the building – just prior to making a rapid dash to the bus that was to take us back to Guadalajara – and I looked back and felt really privileged to  have been able to see a workshop where modern artists are still doing the lavish work of the great tradition of Spanish religious statuary.  To see more, go to their website.

Bobbin Lace Belen

Before I forget, here’s a charming scene that I saw at the exhibition at the parish church in Horche. Belén de bolillos means that the figures are made of bobbin lace, a type of lace making at which Spaniards excel.  It looks enormously complicated, to me, and consists of staking out little pins on a cushion and flipping fine strings, attached to bobbins, around the pins to form knots and, eventually, many flips later, lace. 

 

 

These tiny figures were made by an Horche lace-maker, Inéz María Martínez, and are about 2 inches high.  Here’s a close-up of the Misterio.

 

Horche Afternoon

That afternoon, we went to lunch in Horche, a town about 15 km from Guadalajara. To keep the price reasonable, arrangements had been made for us to eat lunch and dinner for the next day or so in Horche at a restaurant that catered large events. The food was good, sturdy food and we had a great time there. The bus trip out to Horche gave us a few moments to relax or listen to Carmencita’s incredible stream of jokes…

After lunch on the first day, we toured Horche. The town is a pretty, hilly town with narrow old streets. It looks out over a broad valley.  We went to the Casa de Cultura (Community Center) where town residents and children had installed their belenes, just for the Congreso, since they are not usually set up until December.

Then we went to the Parroquia de Ntra Sra de la Asunción and saw an exhibition installed by the Asociación de Belenistas de Horche.  It included a number of particularly ingenious dioramas, which we are viewing in this photo. 

An unexpected treat at the church was this beautiful Nativity by Arte Martínez, which turned out to be a local company that has been producing figures for decades. The figures in the photo are around 100 cm figures and are carved and polychromed in the traditional style, which is the Arte Martínez specialty. The company does not produce small belen figures, of course, but creates statuary of various sizes, much of it for use in churches or larger spaces, as well as retablos and other parts of the decorative architectural features of a church.  It turned out that our next stop was a visit to the workshop of Arte Martínez, which for me was one of the high-points of the trip.  But more about that in my next post!

Congreso 2009 – The First Day

Because we were a large group, we moved around to different venues that could accommodate us. Our opening ceremonies were in a civic auditorium.  The Associations brought their banners in and installed them on the stage, where they would remain for the next few days. 

 

We also had a fine presentation on Luisa Roldan and the Museum of Guadalajara.  The museum had installed a fine exhibit on Christmas in Guadalajara just for the Congreso. There are two pieces by La Roldana in the museum’s collection, and one was in very poor condition. The curator showed us the steps involved in restoring it; when I cover our visit to the museum, I’ll show you a photo of it.  For now, here’s an interesting slide from the show, which shows us a figure depicting the Virgen de la Leche that is in a private collection in Madrid.  As you know, this is one of my prime interests, since my town, St. Augustine, is thought to have had a 16th-17th century statue of Nstra Sra de la Leche in a chapel that was on or near the site of the current shrine. The original figure was stolen by British raiders from Georgia in the early 18th century.

 

The Mercadillo also had its formal opening, and belenistas descended in flocks upon the tables to look at figures from figuristas such as Montserrat Ribes, in the photo, and Javier Guilloto Ramos.  Also for sale were the latest issues of La Anunciata and Taller del Belen.  After that we went on to the town of Horche for lunch (click on the link for photos). But more about that in a day or so.

Congreso 2009 – Optional Day

The easiest way to tell everybody about the Congreso is to go in chronological order, with a few digressions.  I’m working on a big translation now, so I’ll start here but I might not get back to it for a day or two.

The first day for many of us was the “optional day,” that is, the local visits prior to the opening of the Congreso itself.  In this case, we went to Sigüenza, which is about 60 km from Guadalajara and further up in the mountains.  I had never been there before but after this brief visit, I'd like to go back someday. 

The town was quite lovely and is one of the best preserved of the medieval towns, although of course many changes have occurred to it over the centuries. It has been a cathedral town since the early part of the first millennium. The bishop from the powerful Mendoza family, the Spanish equivalent of the Medicis, had his palace here. It had already been the residence of the lord bishops, who in that place were both secular and ecclesiastical rulers, for many years.  Times change, the bishops are no longer the rulers, and the palace is now a parador.

We had a great tour led by one of the canons of the Cathedral.  Around the windows, you will see the marks left by bullets fired by the sides during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.  I couldn’t get many photos in the Cathedral, unfortunately, because photos are not permitted and it was, in any case, extremely dark inside.  The Wikipedia entry on the Cathedral will probably give you the best overall information and links in English; Sigüenza itself maintains a very interesting website (in Spanish, of course) that gives you good photos of the interior – click through the arrows to see details of different areas.

Sigüenza has a very interesting diocesan museum that has pieces taken mainly from remote churches in villages where the population has moved away and the church is no longer in use. This charming 15th century Flight into Egypt was among them.

There was a Franciscan monastery nearby that had a beautiful altar and was doing a booming business selling cookies and candies at the turno, the turn or revolving device through which cloistered religious give and accept items to and from the outside world.  This is the retablo or reredos of their altar.

The unusual piece below was in a local palace, now used as a museum and student facility by the Universidad de  Alcalá.  The figure is a “figura de vestir,” that is, a figure meant to be dressed. As you can see, it is basically sort of an armature.  The hair – a tiny wig – would be added and the figure would be clothed in elaborate garments. This figure is a Dolorosa or Sorrowing Virgin. You have to imagine the image, dressed probably in black or purple, with hair and a headdress of some kind, holding a rosary or a handkerchief and looking down mournfully.

When the Cathedral and the museums closed, we trekked through the hilly streets and then finally scampered up the hill to the palace/parador, where you see us here enjoying a “medieval banquet.” Fortunately, the only thing medieval about it was the presence of a few actors dressed like royalty, and the food, unlike real medieval food, was quite tasty and the wine plentiful.

Soria and Las Edades del Hombre

 
Soria is a beautiful small city about 2 hours north of Madrid.  It's on the Rio Duero, Spain's most important river, although the river is not huge where it passes through Soria because it is channeled between cliffs for much of its run.  Below you see the ermita, or hermitage or chapel, of San Saturio, on one of these cliffs.

 

Las Edades del Hombre is a biennial event sponsored by the dioceses of Castilla y Leon. They bring out their treasures, each time in a different city, and you can see the glories of the religious art of Castilla y Leon over the centuries.  Many of the items are either in very remote churches that are accessible only with difficulty, or are in the treasuries of the diocese because of their value and fragility.

It was, as usual, a great exhibit. It was at the Concatedral de San Pedro, shown below. A "concatedral" or concathedal is the cathedral of a diocese that has been merged with another, resulting in the unusual situation of there being two cathedrals (or co-cathedrals) in one diocese. Soria and Burgo de Osma became one diocese long ago, and the concatedrales are in those cities.

Naturally, I couldn't take photos at the exhibit. BUt I did see this tiny St Joseph with the Child, probably 17th century, standing patiently in a niche in a small church nearby.

Madrid and Swaddling Clothes

 

I'm in Madrid today, acclimatizing before going off to the Congreso next week. Today I went to the Prado to see the new 19th century paintings galleries, and I also went into the church of San Jeronimo el Real, located behind it. Part of the old cloister of San Jeronimo has actually been taken over by the Prado for use as a temporary exhibits gallery and a place for the display of sculpture.

As you can see, work is being done on the exterior.  The church was built in the 16th century, and has been added to over the years. It has been used for the swearing in on the Principe de Asturias, the Crown Prince, since the time of Felipe II, and is still used for various royal functions. It's a very popular church for weddings, and in fact there was a small wedding going on while I was there.

Over the door, we have a lovely little (well, not so little) Nativity. The position of the Virgin in the bed reminded me very much of the position of the Virgin in Greek and Russian iconography. 

 

This is a scene that features St Joseph making himself useful: here he seems to be folding swaddling clothes, with the assistance of either a servant or an angel.

The interior is quite colorful, with many side altars and shrines.

One of the shrines was devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe...Guadalupe, Spain, that is. The figure is a black Virgin (that is, dark skinned), one of three such black Virgins in Spain, and is holding the Child. This is unlike the Mexican version, in which the Virgin is pregnant. The statue was hidden by a priest fleeing from the Moors in Extremadura and miraculously found again in the 14th century. She is credited with helping in the recovery of Spain from the Muslim invaders and is the patroness of Extremadura. Cortez, who conquered much of Mexico, was from Extremadura, hence the connection.

The Jeronimos (Hieronymites) were entrusted with her devotion, which is why there is a shrine to her in this church in Madrid.   

Día de San Francisco…Feast of St Francis

This year, the Feast of St Francis (patron saint of Nativity scene builders) falls on a Sunday, so it will be a muted celebration. Yesterday, however, I attended a Mass for the Transitus, that is, the Crossing Over of St Francis, who died the evening of October 3. A saint’s feast day is normally the 24-hour day of his death, but St Francis died as the new day began, so the 3rd is celebrated as his Crossing Over and the 4th is his feast day.

But St Francis must be out there and watching over belenistas, because I just discovered an excellent website/blog that I had not seen before, Belenismo.net. It’s not new (it began in 2008) but I just discovered it thanks to St Francis, because I was looking for information on the Transitus and stumbled across the web page. There is a great photo on the blog of a figure of St Francis with the Child, but unfortunately it was blocked so I can’t cross-post it here.  However, I’m posting a photo I took two years ago, at the conference in La Palma del Condado, of a statue of St Francis, a lamb in his arms and the wolf under his feet.

The site is an excellent website and has a blog that keeps you up to date on things. It is part of the Foro de Belenismo (or perhaps, it would be better to say that the Foro is part of the webpage) but is, of course, much more visual and focused. It also has a very comprehensive list of other websites and blogs, in Spain and elsewhere, devoted to the subject. Thank you, St Francis!

Guadalajara Draws Nigh!

In just about a week, I will be leaving for Spain to attend the 47th annual conference of the Federación Española de Belenistas.  I will spend a few days in Madrid (remembering how to speak Spanish again!) and then go to Guadalajara on the 14th.  This year, it is being sponsored by the Asociación de Belenistas de Guadalajara.

I took a peek at their website. They have wonderful activities planned, and the city and nearby towns have also scheduled interesting exhibits for the conference.  Here’s a sample.

- Tiempo de Navidad. Belén y Tradición.
Museo de Guadalajara. Palacio del Infantado

- Belén Monumental de Guadalajara
Museo de Guadalajara, Palacio del Infantado

- Dioramas y Belenes de la Asociación de Belenistas de Guadalajara.
Espacio de Arte Antonio Pérez, Centro de San José. Diputación Provincial.

- Nuestros Orígenes: A. B. de Madrid y Belenismo Popular
Sala de Arte de Caja de Guadalajara

- Belén del Parque y Centro de Mantenimiento de Material de Ingenieros.
Colegio María Cristina

I will report on all these things.  In the meantime, go to the website of the Guadalajara association and look at their Belén Monumental for 2007. There’s a great video that shows the members working on what is indeed a huge and impressive Belén. Click on Belen and then play the video.

Below is the cover for the program for the Congreso. As you may have guessed, Guadalajara is famous for its honey production.