Geometry and technique in two Spanish fictive altarpiece-tabernacles: Nuestra Señora de La Soledad (Puebla de Montalbán, Toledo) and San Isidro (Alcalá de Henares) hermitages

Abstract

Our main idea in this article is to analyze in a graphic, geometric, descriptive and technic way, two masterpieces of the fictive altarpiece Spanish separated by more than 140 years: el retablo from the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de La Soledad de Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo), work of the brothers González Velázquez in 1741; and el retablo at the church of San Isidro de Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), work of Manuel Laredo in 1885.

Both paintings share the representation of a Tabernacle, but also the grandiosity and perfection in its layout, in addition to being done by artists who were not famed. The altarpiece-tabernacle is a way of architecture that can be encircled, and its representation upon the wall implies the need of a better knowledge of the rules of perspective for its correct layout. We also analyze the influence that made the quadraturistas and geometry writers in this sort of representations.

Beside this geometrical analysis, we consider that it is essential to enter the corporeity of these pieces, its structure and stratification which, combined with the study of the ways of transpositions of the sketches and the pictorial techniques used for its representations, will help us understand better the methodology used by its authors in the making of this wall paintings.