Art and Devotion in the Confraternities Established in the Church of the Assumption of Saint Mary in Barco de Avila (13th to 18th Centuries)

Abstract

A good number of confraternities and brotherhoods were established in the church of the Assumption of Saint Mary in Barco de Ávila since the fourteenth century. Those devotional organizations were active promoting altarpieces and images. The National Historical Archives keep a good number of documents generated by those confraternities and brotherhoods and their study provides details about authors and dates for pieces which have been anonymous so far. The analysis of the documentation generated by both the Confraternity of Saint Severus and the Brotherhood of Saint Joseph has provided the identities of various artists and craftsmen active in Barco de Ávila in the seventeenth century. Additional interesting information about the devotional life of the society at that time has also emerged. The most relevant data refers to the altarpiece made by Juan Gómez and gilded by Miguel Ciprés which allocates the image of the Virgin and the Child known as “Virgen de la Silla” (ca. 1520) attributed to Felipe Bigarny and the altarpiece made by Juan del Arenal and gilded by Luis de Tobar and Antonio Fernández de Torres, devoted to Saint Joseph.