Seville Cathedral: Chapel of San Hermenegildo
Sculpture of St James the Less |
Above the wrought-iron screen of the chapel there is a stained-glass window by Enrique Alemán dating from 1479.
It depicts four saintly bishops.
The stained-glass window illuminating the interior dates from 1819 and contains the symbols of San Hermenegildo.
This chapel was founded by the Cardinal Juan de Cervantes who wanted it to be his burial place.
A short time after his death -in 1453- the sculptor Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña carved his sepulchre out of alabaster.
At the front ends of the sarcophagus there are angels supporting the Cardinal`s coat of arms, while his reclining figure on top is very life-like not only as regards his vestments but also in the reproduction of his facial features.
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The chapel centres around a reredos dating from the middle of the 18C.
It was built by Manuel Garcia Santiago, a craftsman specializing in reredos.
The main shrine contains a sculpture of San Hermenegildo by Bartolomé García de Santiago, father of the above.
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Sepulchre of Cardinal Cervantes
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On the sides of the altar table there are two sculptures of St James the Greater and St James the Less.
They are not connected with the altar because the former dates from the middle of the 16C and the latter is ascribed to Pedro Millán, dates from around 1500 and probably comes from the lantern of the Cathedral, which caved in 1511.
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Most the paintings in this chapel are of little interest.
They depict and Inmaculada by an anonymous artist of the first third of the 17C, Santa Engracia and Santa Rufina by an anonymouis disciple of Zurbaran, a 17C Santa Librada, and a copy of The Virgin of La Antigua of the same century.
More remarkable are the two paintings by the 17C Flemish painter Frans Franken II, representing The Welding at Canaan and Salome with the Head of John the Baptist.
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