Fuentes romanas gráficas y literarias del baldaquino y la pérgola de la Catedral de Santiago

Abstract

Between 1654 and 1677 the furnishings of the main chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago were reformed following the new Baroque principles imported from Madrid and Italy. The resultant changes are those known today: canopy, camerina and pergola with Solomonic columns and the wooden revetments of the walls. The construction work was directed by the canon of the Cathedral, José de Vega y Verdugo, who had spent several years in Rome, and was carried out first by Francisco de Antas, master builder of the Cathedral, and later by the new master builder, Domingo de Andrade. The Roman sources for these structures —Bernini’s canopy in St. Peter’s Basilica and Constantine’s pergola of twisted columns— are here proposed or revised, with the addition of new graphic and literary data.