Main altarpiece of the church of Santa María del Moral in Villafáfila

Through the dating that would be put in the church of Santa María del Moral towards the end of the 16th century 1590, and removing are the original tables, 1st body, 2nd street and all those of the 4th body, plus those of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th body of the 3rd fairway. We know nothing of the rest what its originals would be and its main form due to the restoration carried out in 1811.

After the inclaustrations produced in the Monastery of Santa María de Moreruela, there was a great vandalism and looting of the Monastery, through the churches the priests of the surrounding towns, including Villafáfila, organized trips to bring belongings and spoils, as cited in the Lib fab from 1812:

"Book of Accounts of the Parish of Santa María del Moral de V illafáfila, belonging to the year 1812, twelve reals of spending are assigned for food of the parishioners, who on holidays went with ox carts to bring the spoils of the Monastery of Moreruela bound for this church ” [1] .

In these visits canvases from Moreruela are surely brought, which would be the ones embedded when the 1811 restoration of the altarpiece was carried out.

D. Camilo Pérez Engraving and D. Manuel de la Granja give us the same reference, but different year, the altarpiece of Santa María was restored in 1811 or 1821-1822 by the master painter Francisco Montalvo, who received for it:

“one bushel and three bushels of wheat and one bushel of barley, which came from alms to help build the main altarpiece of the church…” [2] ,

“Francisco Montalvo, master painter for gilding the main altarpiece, cleaning its paintings and putting some cards, was paid 4,300 reais” [3] .

“and 200 reais was paid by the painter Francisco Montalvo for gilding the Assumption and the monstrance” [4] .

The historian D. Manuel Gómez Moreno, during his visit to Villafáfila in the summer of 1903, left in his Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905 published in 1927, a description of the main altarpiece in his observation of the church of Santa María del Moral .

“Altarpiece that would be made in the middle of the 16th century, with five bodies and a bench, full of ornamentation with its columns and friezes, but they corrected it perhaps under neoclassicism, removing everything to leave it smooth and repainted, in a way that nothing is worth anymore. It preserves in its central street reliefs of the Assumption, Pentecost and Pietà, not bad ones” [5] .

“Another panel in the main altarpiece, with the Visitation, in the same style as those of Villarrín and very appreciable. It is from the beginning of the 16th century, with a mixed Flemish and Italian style, borders of letters on dresses and Roman architecture. It measures 1.14 by 0.74 m.

Four more at the top of the altarpiece, which seem false and look bad, except for the Baptism. ” [6] .

“On the other boards there are canvases nailed, the most despicable, and others that made up an apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bernard, with a group of little angels, perhaps from Moreruela. They are four pieces that seemed to me to be from the Madrid school at the end of the 17th century, precious, with a light tone and a very fluid brush, but also somewhat mannered and feminine.” [7] .

The rest belong to cataloged canvases from the Santa María Moreruela monastery, which he says are despicable or of little value, except for those located in the 2nd body, such as three central reliefs, Asunción, Pentecostés-Ascensión, Piety, as not bad.

The main altarpiece of the church of Santa María del Moral is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin. Her image is in the center of it, body 3rd, street 3rd, in an attitude of being raised to heaven, according to the typical iconography. The Assumption into heaven was already worshiped then, long before the declaration of the dogma.

· It consists of a bench, which in the center is the tabernacle or tabernacle where the bread consecrated in the Eucharist is kept.

· Of five bodies, the last one is the attic, it is made up of 21 shelves, in a series of five horizontally, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th bodies, plus a series of one in the 5th body or attic, upper central vertically .

· From the 1st to the 4th body, giving rise to 20 intercolumns in which the same number of paintings are placed, separated from each other by columns with equally Ionic friezes and capitals.

· Of which 5 are original tables from the beginning of the 16th century, with a mixed Flemish and Italian style, they are 1st body, 2nd street and those of the 4th body with their 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th streets.

· The other 11 are canvases that come from the monastery of Santa María de Moreruela that:

· Those of the 1st body, lanes 1st, 4th and 5th, and 3rd body, lanes 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th, these are of lower value.

· Those of the 2nd body 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th street, these are exquisite fragments of a composition centered on the well-known miracle in which the Virgin, in an attitude of nursing the Child, moistened the lips of her child with a few drops of her breast milk. unconditional chaplain, San Bernardo de Claraval.

· The central lanes are 5, vertically and from bottom to top of the 1st body, 3 lanes, a crucifix 0.50 m. superimposed, 2nd body, 3rd street carving of the Assumption, attached 0.90 m., 3rd body, 3rd street a relief of the Ascension, 4th body, 3rd street a relief of Pietà, 5th a cross with a shroud and two angels worship posture. The central streets 2º, 3º and 4º of certain quality.

· A column placed at the ends from the 1st to the 3rd, on the columns there are two winged angels, each one of the 4th body is at the end.

· the 5th body or attic in its center a shelf is just with the central streets of the other bodies, with a cross with a shroud and guarded by two angels in a posture of adoration, at each end there is another larger angel between the separation of the 1st and 2nd, 4th and 5th streets and next to the dice of each one a monstrance and on the attic a bust finishing off the altarpiece symbolizes the Eternal Father.

The placement of the paintings in the intercolumns of Renaissance altarpieces is not usually capricious, but rather responds to a chronological order, normally from left to right in the direction of the bodies and from bottom to top in that of the streets. However, in the one we studied everything is quite confused and messy. Some of the original tables are covered by unrelated painted canvases. The ownership of the paintings is indicated below:

Its curved door has the image of Jesus carved on the outside, whose hands are tied to the middle portion of a long shaft column.

The side spaces of the bench have plain and painted squares. This altarpiece is supported by a basement that serves as the base for the predella.

1st body, 3rd street: It stands out from the complex due to its greater breadth and decoration in relief. We do not know, originally, what the central painting of the first body would have, because when the church was enlarged, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was replaced by a showcase that contained the image of the Heart of Mary, in absolute discrepancy with the altarpiece style. , the later substitution for superimposed crucified Christ of 0.5 m. It has been a great success.

2nd body, 3rd street: The Asunción image of 0.95 m. of the Virgin with her hands joined and her mantle arranged in concentric, deep and symmetrical folds (reminiscent of Jordan), resting on a crescent.

4th body, 3rd street: From the horizontal Pietà, they stand out from the size of the intercolumns. A fiction of depth is created, as Juan de Juni did in his altarpiece in the Cathedral of Segovia.

5th body or attic: In its center that coincides with the 3rd streets of the other bodies, a panel with a cross with a shroud and guarded by two angels in a posture of adoration.

The original tables are only 5, the 1st body, 2nd street and the four of the 4th body, 1st 2nd, 4th and 5th, D. Manuel Gómez Moreno qualifies them as Flemish style, from the 15th century with an Italian accent the first.

The 1st body, 2nd street: Represents the Visitation of the Virgin to her cousin Santa Isabel. That one, standing, wears a green tunic covered by a blue cloak, slightly folded, that reaches the ground. She this one has a red dress. Her leaning body is in a strained and unstable position, due to her tendency to bend her knees. Both have smiling faces and hold hands. The scene is witnessed by other women. The style is romanist, it measures: 1.14 by 0.74m.

It is difficult to diagnose the composition of the last boards because they are placed high up and do not look good:

The remaining 11 from the monastery of Santa María de Moreruela, are pictures of the lower intercolumns present tables with nailed painted and repainted canvases

The most precious of Moreruela's dispersed heritage, until now recognized, is found in Villafáfila and is concentrated in its main altarpiece, in whose encasings previously scissor-cut canvases fit unceremoniously. Although very unequal, there they remain twinned by the degrading state of conservation they share. The show is so indecent and shameful that it requires high doses of application to fit it into Europe and the 21st century. And before the pieces that stand out from the rest due to their excellence, they confuse indignation and discouragement. They are also bulging, with wrinkles, tears, infinite dirt, cracks and countless losses [8] .

“an apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bernard, with a group of little angels, are four pieces that seemed to me to be from the Madrid school of the late 17th century, precious, with a light tone and a very fluid brush, but also somewhat mannered and feminine” [ 9] .

These are exquisite fragments of a composition centered on the well-known miracle in which the Virgin, in an attitude of nursing the Child, moistened the lips of her unconditional chaplain, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, with a few drops of her mother's milk. The freshness and ease with which they were resolved and their soft and peaceful intonation are surprising [10] .

2nd body 1st street: Two angels recommended for their ease that move in the air describing brave foreshortenings.

2nd body, 2nd street: The Virgin Mary in a sedative and slanted position, with a demure expression, compresses her chest to nurse the saint, who would be kneeling at her feet, to whom the smiling and vital Child turns his gaze turning on the knee of the mother.

2nd body, 4th street: San Bernardo fills another box, cut out his slender and austere figure when they stuffed him into such a narrow frame; kneeling, wrapped in the white cowl, he extends his right hand in a gesture of surprise, but without discomposing his face, with a rigorous profile that is the young man with features emaciated by the rigors of monastic life, with his eyes fixed on such a singular mother.

2nd body, 5th street: Behind, in the fourth piece, two beautiful children are shown, in relaxing postures communicating naturally and playing with the miter and crosier donated by the condition of abbot of Saint Bernard and with one of his books, perhaps the of the praises of the Virgin.

· 7 of them that are: 1st body, 1st, 4th and 5th street, 3rd body, 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th street, without appreciable value, "the most despicable" [11] .

The seven oil paintings, branded by such a respectable master as "despicable" are actually not at odds with the Zamoran pictorial legacy of the 17th century, whose quality, with few exceptions, is low, although no less than in other places, it did not deserve any attention from such a rigorous author, when the field of our cultural heritage worthy of esteem was much more restricted and select than the current one [12] .

1st body, 1st street: Saint Ephrem of Abbeville, decorative, but naive and superficial, twin canvases with 1st body 5th street, in which they appear seated and in three-quarter positions, dating from the last quarter of the 17th century.

1st body, 4th street: Santiago en Clavijo's already complicated composition detracts from its puerile nature.

1st body, 5th street: San Toribio de Mogrovejo, decorative, but naive and superficial, twin canvases with 1st body 1st street, in which they appear seated and in three-quarter positions, dating from the last quarter of the 17th century.

3rd body, 1st street: A half-length San Benito (?), unrecognizable due to the stunned varnish.

And in two pieces, another somewhat snubbed composition: from the Nursing Virgin to Saint Bernard.

That before a restoration of the altarpiece it would be advisable to discover some of these paintings are in a poor state of conservation.

This design is similar to that of other altarpieces with similar or similar decoration, with a greater or lesser number of squares and streets. This can be seen in the altarpieces of the churches of San Martín de Villalonso and San Julián de los Caballeros de Toro, with alternative pediments and many more in that of tierrodrigo (Tagarabuena-Toro), currently installed in the Church of the Hospital de la Incarnation of the Zamora Provincial Council, without pediments, due to the Mannerist sculptor Melchor Diez de Toro (around 1580), who more or less follows Esteban Jordán's techniques. The paintings of the altarpiece of the Hospital de la Encarnación were painted by Gaspar de Palencia and those of Villalonso by Juan de Talaya, Mannerists like the previous ones.

Could the sculptor Melchor Díez and the painter Gaspar de Palencia be the authors of the Villafáfila altarpiece? Due to the similarity of the style and the great sculptural similarity with the previous altarpieces, especially with that of Zamora, we can think that both are also the sculptor and painter of this one. There are no known documents that confirm it due to lack of archival research. Melchor Díez is also considered to have a pro-baroque style. He unites Esteban Jordán with the baroquists, also from Toro and his relatives, Juan and Sebastián de Ucete and Esteban de Rueda. Gaspar de Palencia and Gaspar de Hoyos, together with Becerra himself, polychromed the altarpiece of the Cathedral of Astorga.

Villafáfila: History and current situation of a Castilian-Leonese town and its parish churches. 1996. p. 448 and 450.

Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905, p. 265 and 265 vta., and 266, edited 1927.

Moreruela: a monastery in the history of Císter / coord. by Hortensia Larrén Izquierdo, 2008, ISBN 978-84-9718-513-4, pgs. 297-333, (pp. 323 to 327).

https://www.jcyl.es/junta/ccyt/20161202_Moreruela_un_Monasterio_de_Cister_Protegido.pdf

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[1] Lib. fab Santa Maria del Moral. 1805-1853, p. 22.

[2] Book. fab Santa Maria del Moral. 1805-1833, p. 19 and 19 row.

[3] Book. fab Santa Maria del Moral. 1805-1833, p. twenty-one.

[4] Book. fab Santa Maria del Moral. 1805-1833, p. 28.

[5] D. Manuel Gómez Moreno: Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905 pg. 265 and 265 round, edited 1927.

[6] D. Manuel Gómez Moreno: Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905 pg. 265 round edited 1927.

[7] D. Manuel Gómez Moreno: Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905 pg. 266, edited 1927.

[8] José Navarro Talegón: Moreruela a monastery in the history of the Cistercians. Coordination: Hortensia Larrén Izquierdo. Contributions of the modern age, p. 323.

[9] Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905, edited 1927.

[10] José Navarro Talegón: Moreruela a monastery in the history of the Cistercians. Coordination: Hortensia Larrén Izquierdo. Contributions of the modern age, p. 323.

[11] Monumental Catalog of the Province of Zamora 1903-1905, edited 1927.

[12] José Navarro Talegón: Moreruela a monastery in the history of the Cistercians. Coordination: Hortensia Larrén Izquierdo. Contributions of the modern age p. and 326.