Pedro
de Arrieta
Francisco
Becerra
Santiago Calatrava Valls
Alonso Cano
Fernando Casas y Novoa
Eduardo Chillida Juantegui
José Benito Churriguera
Simón de Colonia
Alonso de Covarrubias
Lluis Domenech y Montaner
Antonio Plácido Guillermo Gaudí i Cornet
Juan
de Herrera
Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón
Diego de Siloé
Juan Bautista de Toledo
Andrés de Vandelvira
Juan de Villanueva
Episcopal Palace in Astorga by Gaudí.
Diego de Siloé was born in Spain in the mid XV century. He worked in Italy as a young man where he was deeply influenced by Italian Renaissance art and, particularly, by the beauty of the works of Michelangelo. Upon his return to Spain he became one of the great artists of the Spanish Renaissance movement along with Berruguete, Machuca, Ordoñez and others. His works possess a combination of grandiosity and sentimentalism. In 1519 he worked at the cathedral of Burgos where he finished the alabaster sepulcher for the chapel of Bishop Acuña that was begun by his father; and his masterpiece, the golden staircase of the cathedral. He also worked at the cathedrals of Cadiz, Granada, Malaga and Seville. Siloé was well known and admired for the design and construction of several houses that stood out because of their beautiful patios and façades; examples include the house of “Los Miradores”, and the Irish College in Salamanca.
Simón de Colonia was born in Spain in 1450. He is considered one of the most representative architects and sculptors of the Spanish-Flemish style in the XV century, and one of the most important in the city of Toledo. He completed the work his father had begun at the Cathedral and chapel of Miraflores. In 1482 he worked on the Capilla del Condestable, inspired by the chapel of Alvaro de Luna in the Cathedral of Toledo. He also worked at the church of St. Paul in Valladolid, at the cathedral of Seville, and in St. John of the Kings in Toledo. As a sculptor he made the sepulchers of Gonzalo Fernández de Aguilar (1482), Juan Sanchez de Sepúlveda (1486), Gonzalo Diez de la Fuente (1492), Pedro Fernández de Villegas (1509), and others. Simón de Colonia died in 1511.
Andrés de Vandelvira was born in Spain in 1509. He began his architectural work in Toledo with various local artisans and masons, and later with Diego de Siloé. Andrés worked extensively in the cities of Ubeda, Baeza and Jaén. In Granada he made the blueprints for the Chapel of the Saviour, built later by Siloé. This was, perhaps, the most representative design of his style, particularly insofar as decoration and the use of the human figure. In 1554 he conducted several projects at the cathedral of Jaén, a bustling city in those days. He also built the Hospital of Santiago and the Palace of Vázquez de Molina in Ubeda. Vandelvira died in 1575.
Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón:
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Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón was born in Rasines, Santander o/a 1500. Rodrigo was one of the most important architects of the “Plateresco” style and a purist of the Art School of Salamanca. He worked with his father, Juan, during the construction of the New Cathedral of Salamanca; and completed his father’s work at the cathedral of Segovia after his passing; where he became Master Architect in 1560. He had the same position at the Cathedral of Salamanca since1538. Most of his works at religious institutions follow the Gothic style and include those at the aforementioned cathedrals as well as in Villacastín, Valladolid, Medina de Rioseco, Cáceres, and Medina del Campo. He was also Principal Master at the cathedral of Santiago in 1544. His most important contributions, however, were as a civil architect during the Spanish Renaissance movement. One of his most beautiful works was the façade of the University of Alcalá de Henares from 1541 to 1553. In 1565 he did the blueprints for the Main King’s College in Salamanca.
Rodrigo’s father, Juan, was also a well known architect who did wonderful Spanish-Flemish style works in Segovia, Turégano, and at the cathedral of Palencia. The latter is considered a major contribution to architectural work in Castile. Juan was also an expert architect that excelled in the Gothic style as it is evident in his design of the cross housing structure at the Cathedral of Seville, where he was Master Architect from 1513 to 1515.
Francisco Becerra (Trujillo, 1545) and Claudio de Arciniega (Burgos, 1527) are among some of the Spanish architects that went to the New World to conduct important works carried out during the colonial era. In 1573, Francisco began to work at the church of Santo Domingo in Mexico, and two years later at the cathedral of Puebla where he was Master Architect. Francisco moved to Peru in 1582 to build the cathedrals of Lima and Cuzco. Claudio conducted several projects in Mexico and was eventually named “Principal Mason in New Spain”. He drew the blueprints for the cathedral of Mexico City, where he became its Principal Master in 1570. He also worked at the Hospital of the Concepción, the Royal Hospital of Indies; and did the blueprints for the convents of Santo Domingo and St. Augustine.
Alonso de Covarrubias
was born in Torrijos, Toledo, in 1488. He was the principal architect of the
Toledo School during the Renaissance period. In 1510 Alonso married Maria
Gutierrez Egas, when he was a participant in the construction of the cathedral
of Salamanca. In 1513 he built the sepulcher of Francisco de Rojas at the
chapel of the Epiphany in the church of St. Andrew in Toledo, in a style
that was very
much in line with that used by his wife’s family. His artistic talent evolved into
a blend of Gothic and new Renaissance forms which is clearly apparent in his
work at the cathedral of Siguenza and at the sepulcher of Fadrique of
Portugal. In 1524 he was involved in one of the most important works of the
first phase of the “Plateresco” era in Toledo, the Hospital of the Holy Cross.
In 1526 he worked at the church of the Convent of Piety in Guadalajara, and
worked at the Palace of the House of Mendoza in that city. In 1534 he was
appointed Principal Master at the cathedral of Toledo, a position he held until
his retirement in 1566. Some of his most important works include the
re-construction of the Monastery of St. Clement in Toledo, and the cloister of
the Monastery of Lupiana in Guadalajara.
By 1537 Spanish architecture evolved into a pure Renaissance style often referred to as the second phase of the “Plateresco” style. Covarrubias began to search and build structures with grandiose and monumental effects, in which decoration became a secondary priority. Examples of this new trend are the renovation of the Alcázar of Toledo (pictured above), the Hospital of Afuera, and works at the cathedral of Plasencia. Covarrubias died in 1570.
Juan de Herrera was born in Mobellán, Santander, in 1530. His grandfather was Ruy Gutierrez de Maliaño y Herrera, Lord of the Manor House of Maliaño. His parents were Pedro Gutiérrez de Maliaño and Maria Gutiérrez de la Vega. Juan spent his early years living the life of the heir of a noble family of modest means in one of the most Mountainous regions of Spain. In 1547 he moved to Castile where he entered the service of Prince Philip, with whom he traveled to Valladolid, and later to Italy, Germany, and Belgium. In 1553 he enlisted as a soldier and fought in Italy in the Company of Captain Medinilla. As a cavalryman under General Fernando de Gonzaga he participated in the Piamonte campaign and later in Flanders during the last military action taken by Emperor Charles V. Herrera continued to serve the Emperor until his abdication, at which time he offered his services to King Philip II when he returned to Spain in 1559.
Upon his return to Spain Herrera became a member of a small group of intellectuals charged with the education of Prince Charles. During this time he conducted extensive astronomical and geodesic studies that led to the creation of the Map of Spain. In 1563 he began to work on the construction of El Escorial under the direction of Juan Bautista de Toledo, his first architectural work. Herrera completed the task after the death of Toledo. In 1572 he married Maria de Alvaro, a wealthy widow. He began to do blueprints for various houses including one built by his friend Jacobo de Trezo, and worked on the plans for the monastery of St. Lawrence, a task examined personally by King Philip II. His proposal was approved and his recommendations dealing with the transport and lifting of heavy construction material changed conventional techniques in Spain forever. Other major works during this period were his involvement in the design of the Lonja of Seville, the Franciscan Monastery of St. Dominick of la Calzada, and built a bridge over the Guadarrama River.
He later designed
and participated in the construction and/or renovation of numerous edifices in Simancas, Toledo and at the Royal Palace in Aranjuez
(pictured left). In 1577 the King raised
his salary to 800 ducats and put him in charge of completing El Escorial and
working on the Alcazar in Madrid, and the Pardo Royal House. In 1582, a
widower, he married his second cousin Inés de Herrera. One of Herrera’s most
important contributions to architecture was his pleas to the King in favor of
building a technical college to provide formal technical education to future
architects. The King agreed and ordered the construction of the Academy of
Mathematics in Madrid. The creation of this institution of learning was a huge
success with lasting effects to practitioners of this trade. In 1583 Herrera
designed the hydraulic system for the Spanish Mint in Segovia. Towards the end
of his life he designed a waterway to bring water to Valladolid and made the
blueprints for the cathedral of that city. By then the King had raised his
salary to 1,000 ducats. In 1590 he designed the Royal Quarters in
Torrelodones. He had four daughters and a son. His wife died giving birth to
their son. Herrera died in Madrid in 1597.
Juan Bautista de
Toledo:
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Juan Bautista de Toledo was born in 1509. He lived in Italy for several years, where he was the architect of the Spanish Viceroy in Naples from 1548 to 1559. His most important architectural work in Italy was the construction of the fort in Castelnuovo. While in Italy he married Ursula Jubaria, with whom he had two daughters. In 1559 he received a commission from King Philip II to design and direct several works at various Royal locations in Spain. In 1561, while working in Aranjuez, he sent for his wife and daughters. His family died on their way to Spain when their ship sank in the Mediterranean. That same year the King asked him to design and build a monastery in El Escorial, a task he completed with the assistance of Juan de Herrera. His work at the Monastery of El Escorial was impaired by the constant demands of the monks and by the frequent intervention of the King, who often made changes to the plans developed by his architects. He also participated in works at the Alcazar of Madrid, El Pardo, and Valsain. Juan Bautista de Toledo died in Madrid in 1567.
Alonso Cano was born in Granada, Spain, in 1601. Cano is a well known painter, sculptor, and architect. The family moved to Seville when Alonso was a child and there he became a good friend of Diego Velázquez, a fellow art student at the studio of Francisco Pacheco. Alonso married a widow named Maria de Figueroa, who died two years later. Some of his early paintings include St. Francis of Borgia, currently at the Museum of Seville. Alonso married a 12 year old girl named Maria Magdalena de Uceda Pinto de Leon, a niece of painter Juan de Uceda Castroverde. Cano lived in Madrid for several years working for the Count of Olivares and, later, for King Philip IV renovating many of the paintings in the royal household.
While in Madrid Cano
sculpted the beautiful Child Jesus with the Cross (currently at San Fermin de
los Navarros, Madrid); the Crucifix of Lecaroz in Navarra; and St John the
Baptist Child at the Archbishop’s palace in Granada. In Granada he built his
most famous carved sculpture, the Immaculate Conception (1652-1656, pictured
left), located at
the cathedral of that city, where he also sculpted the Virgin of Bethlehem. In
1656 he made four large wood sculptures, and a marble sculpture of the Angel Custodio (Guardian Angel). Cano made several more sculptures for the
cathedral, including large figures of Adam and Eve. Some of his works are at the
Museum of Granada.
As an architect Alonso Cano worked at the Church of Magdalena, and at the Convent of the Angel. In 1667 he worked with Diego de Siloé on the façade of the cathedral of Granada where Alonso introduced the composition of three deep vertical niches of a functional character that give the structure greater grandiosity and a beautiful blend of masses. His work at this Cathedral is considered one of the most original and expressive works in Spanish Baroque architecture. To facilitate his work at the cathedral he was ordained a priest in 1658. His architectural work also includes a large number of drawings, retable, and lamps of exquisite beauty. His chief flaw was his turbulent emotional nature that often led to violent behavior; and unproven charges of murdering his second wife. Alonso Cano died in Granada in 1677.
Pedro de Arrieta was born in Spain, his DOB is unknown. He moved to Mexico as a young man and soon became one of the most important figures in the colonial architecture of that country, including work on the development of the blueprints of Mexico City. He also designed and built several famous churches such as the Basilica of Guadalupe, the Temple of the Profess, the convent and temple of Corpus Christi, and several other religious and civil edifices and monuments.
José Benito
Churriguera:
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José Benito Churriguera was born in 1665,. He was a member of a family of artists and architects whose works had a marked impact on Spanish Baroque art. He worked on the Cathedral of Salamanca from 1692 to 1699; and built the beautiful retable of the Convent of St. Esteban between 1692 and 1703. He later built other retable with similar characteristics in Madrid, including San Salvador de Leganés, and the Sacred Chapel at the cathedral of Segovia. His style changed in 1709 from the traditional Spanish Baroque to a French and Italian rococo style.
Fernando Casas y Novoa:
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Fernando Casas y Novoa was born in Santiago de Compostela in 1685. His first architectural work was at the cathedral of Lugo, Galicia, in 1711, where he built its cloister. In 1726 he built the chapel of Our Lady of Ojos Grandes at the same cathedral. In Santiago he finished the work at the chapel of the Virgin of Pilar that was started by architect Domingo Andrade. He built several religious and civil structures in Santiago and in La Coruña where he introduced new techniques to make façades more resistant to the passing of time, and the use of large windows to illuminate the interior of buildings.
Juan de Villanueva was born in 1739, a member of a family of artists. At the age of fifteen he won first prize at the Academy of Architecture in Madrid, and received a scholarship to study in Rome. In 1768 he was commissioned to conduct new construction at El Escorial, where he built the Prince’s Little House, considered one of the best neoclassic structures built in Spain in the XVIII century. In Madrid he built the Academy of History, the Botanical Garden, the Astronomical Observatory, the Prado Museum, and renovated Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. Villanueva is considered the most important Spanish architect of the neoclassic style. He died in Madrid in 1811.
Lluis Domenech y
Montaner:
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Lluis Domenech y Montaner was born in Cataluña in 1850. Domenech is regarded as one of the most important figures of Modern Spanish Architecture, a style that he practiced and promoted as a Professor at the College of Architecture in Barcelona. His works are characterized by a blend of constructive rationalism and fabulous decoration inspired by Spain's Islamic influences. His work at the Museum of Zoology in Barcelona offer solutions well ahead of his time, including the use of iron structures and visible bricks, which he used again at the Palace of Catalonian Music, the most extremist of his modern edifices. Similar characteristics can be found at the Hospital of St. Paul (Barcelona), and at the Institute of Pedro Mata in Reus. He published several books including “The History and Architecture of the Monastery of Poblet”. Domenech died in 1923.
Antonio Plácido
Guillermo Gaudí i Cornet:
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Antonio
Plácido Guillermo Gaudí i Cornet, better known as Antoni Gaudí, was born in
Reus, Catalonia, in 1852. His parents were Francesc Gaudí i Serrá, a
coppersmith, and Antonio Cornet i Bertran. Gaudí was enrolled at the Maestro
Berenguer elementary school in Reus, where he met his lifelong friend Eduard
Toda Güell; and received his secondary studies at the St. Francis Convent.
He was afflicted by rheumatic fevers in his youth, a problem that precluded him
from practicing sports and forced him to spend considerable time in solitude and
contemplating nature. Some of his inspiration may have been acquired during
this difficult period in his life.
Gaudí attended the School of Architecture in Barcelona from 1874 to 1878 where he became involved in several projects including the renovation of the Casa Vicens, a private home in Barcelona. His talent and fame emerged early in life and earned him the support of Eusebio Güell, an industrialist for whom he carried out several important commissions including the Güell Palace, and the bizarre Güell Park, full of reptilian fountains, stone trees, and mosaics of broken ceramic pieces set in concrete. He perfected his knowledge of equilibrium and its laws working with architect Martorell, a specialty that was not part of the college curriculum at the time.
In 1883 he was appointed official architect of the famous Church of the Holy Family, his masterpiece. Its imaginative forms, colors, textures, semi cubist towers with mosaic-covered finials, dominate the Barcelona skyline and remain unmatched in world architecture. Other important works include the Casa Batlló (1907) and the Casa Milá (1905); two large stone and iron structures that emphasize the use of rounded and irregular openings, with a roof and balconies that produce a wavelike appearance, and several other unique and beautiful structures.
His architectural style is often described as a blend of neo-Gothic and art nouveau, with some surrealist and cubist elements. His work is a synthesis of varied influences including Gothic, Islamic, medieval, religious, and shapes that imitate nature in its purest form. His art form led to the creation of some of Barcelona’s most important landmarks, and constitute a testimony of his genius. He was a pioneer in his field using color, texture, and movement in ways never before imagined. The beauty of his art is based, at least in part, on its simplicity, originality and uniqueness.
He spent the last months of his life working feverishly on the Church of the Holy Family, and would not accept any other projects. Antoni Gaudí died in 1926 as a result of injuries suffered when he was struck by a trolley while crossing the Gran Via in Barcelona, he was 74. Incredibly, his tomb was desecrated during the Spanish Civil War when police officers decided to conduct a search and left it open. The desecration was probably conducted because of Gaudi’s political and nationalist views, and because of his anti-clerical beliefs. In 1939 several of his friends gathered his remains and sealed his coffin.
Eduardo Chillida Juantegui:
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Eduardo Chillida Juantegui was born in San Sebastián, Spain, in 1924. His parents were Pedro Chillida and Carmen Juantegui, a popular Basque soprano. Chillida studied at the Marian Fathers School in San Sebastian from 1930 to 1942. In 1943 he was admitted to the School of Architecture at the University of Madrid. While in college, he became a popular soccer player in the Spanish first division where he was the goalie of the Real Sociedad. Chillida abandoned his architectural studies in 1947 to pursue an artistic career. His earliest sculptures were made during this period when he was studying drawing at the Circle of Fine Arts in Madrid. The following year he moved to Paris where he made his first plaster sculptures. In 1950 he married Pilar Belzunce in San Sebastian. The couple had eight children. Eduardo and his wife moved to France immediately after their wedding, where his works were exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne shortly thereafter.
His first iron work, Ilarik, was made in 1951. In 1954 he built the four doors for the Basilica of Aránzazu; and gave exhibitions at the Clan Gallery in Madrid, and at the Denise René Gallery in Paris. Since then his works have been shown regularly at the most prestigious museums and galleries in Europe, America and Japan.
His architectural training is evident in the selective markings imposed onto the topographies of steel, paper or clay on foundations that often extend into a third dimension. Visual architectural elements can be appreciated in works such as Esertoki; and in the names of some of his works, such as Liberty Door. In Homage to Architecture III, three "buildings" interact and are unified by a flat slab at the pedestal. Although there may be a persistent homage to man-made habitation in Chillida's work, it is equally clear that the controlled rigor of this discipline did not suit him. His works express a need to poetically break away from the logic of structure in favor of an intuitive feeling for placement and rhythm. Allusions to musical notation appear frequently both in the form of formal analogy and via the titles given to his works. An example is The Music, a small piece in which two vertical slabs of steel are joined by groupings of three arches on each side that suggests a dancing couple.
Santiago Calatrava Valls:
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Santiago Calatrava Valls was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1951. He received a Master degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the Institute of Architecture in his native Valencia; and a Ph.D. in Technical Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In 1981 he opened his first Architectural and Engineering firm in Zurich. He has honorary doctorates from universities in Spain, and Scotland. In addition to being an accomplished architect and engineer Calatrava repeatedly demonstrates exceptional creativity and artistic talent. His engineering skills allow him to create unique sculptural surfaces and unusual spaces that are often far from the norm of architectural design.
It is difficult to list all his works in a condensed biography but some of his best known are the Milwaukee Art Museum (pictured left), the Science Center Museum and Planetarium in Valencia, Spain (2000), the Stadelhofen Railway Station in Zurich, Switzerland (1990); BCE Place, Galleria and Heritage Square in Toronto, Canada (1992); the Lyon Airport Railway Station in France (1994); the Kuwait Pavilion Expo ’92 in Seville, Spain (1992); the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York; the recently completed Auditorium in Tenerife, Canary Islands; and the first bridge of the modern era over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
Calatrava has won numerous awards throughout his career including the Auguste Perret award in 1979 for rekindling the quality of Perret's structural work and for re-emphasizing the importance of primary structure in a defining form; he also won the 1999 Principe de Asturias award for the arts, the Oscar Niemeyer in 1989, and the Javier Sáenz de Oiza in 1993.
