La orfebrería en el antiguo Reino de MurciaDiócesis de Cartagena

Abstract

The goldsmith in the ancient Kingdom of Murcia. Diocese of Cartagena, and framed in the Doctoral Program: History, Geography and History of Art: Society, Territory and Heritage of the International Doctoral School of the University of Murcia, addresses one of the least known fields of art history in the Region of Murcia, as well as one of the least treated nationally and internationally. Indeed, the decorative arts, where you have to frame the silverware, have not enjoyed special attention by the scientific community until relatively recently, based on this pejorative consideration of the whole unjustified, as has been amply demonstrated in numerous studies. Therefore, overcoming this perspective, the research on sumptuous arts, and in particular on silverware, has undergone significant growth, which in fact, have in the Group of Research of Sumptuary Arts of the Department of Art History of the University of Murcia one of Its main engines. Thus, for some decades theses focused on the study of the art of silverware in certain cities or provinces are common, remaining among all to investigate the case of the Region of Murcia. Issue that has come to be covered by this research, which has the scientific support of the aforementioned group, where the doctoral student is inserted, and of his direct, Professor Rivas Carmona, recognized expert in the field, as the annual publication of Studies endorses of Silverware. The thesis deals with the art of silverware in the old Kingdom of Murcia from two large blocks, the guild and the work. In the case of the guild, a complete analysis of their ordinances of 1738 is made, that is, of the legal regime that regulated their profession, completing all this with events and other cases that affected Murcia silversmiths, such as the presence of silversmiths and foreign work . Likewise, to offer a more complete vision, other social aspects of the group are taken into account, such as their participation in local life, for example through public celebrations, or their work as artistic sponsors around the cult of San Eloy. Secondly, a study of the artistic work is carried out through the main pieces of silverware that are preserved in this geographical framework or that were made by Murcian artist, through the study of the collections of the main temples of the Diocese Cartagena, such as the Cathedral of Murcia, the Collegiate Church of San Patricio, parishes, convents and monasteries and brotherhoods, not forgetting the role of civil silverware and sponsors, who give a good account of the evolution of the outfits of these places, in response to a specific historical context or specific circumstances. The objectives of the thesis have been the following: 1. Valuation of the guild of silversmiths of Murcia and its members from various perspectives 2. Study of the ordinances of the guild as a regulatory mechanism of their profession 3. Analysis of specific cases that affected Murcia silversmiths 4. Know the presence and involvement of the guild in other social matters 5. Evaluate the artistic activity of the guild as sponsors around the cult of San Eloy 6. Identify the main groups and sponsors of the art of silverware 7. Study of the silverware of the Region of Murcia In order to carry out these preliminary objectives, a bibliographic compilation has been carried out, as appropriate, to know the status of the issue and keep in mind other similar investigations. This has been followed by intense documentary work in different regional and national archives, mainly through the protocols of the Historical Archive of the Region of Murcia, of the documentation preserved in the Municipal Archives of Murcia, as well as of the cathedral and parish archives . All this has been completed with the search, analysis, identification and cataloging of the pieces of silverware preserved in various collections. The thesis has produced a series of conclusions that corroborate the premises of the investigation, while they have solved each of the general objectives, as well as specific ones, of the same. Firstly, the relevance of this study has been confirmed, when it was found that the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia was one of the few in Spain that did not yet have this type of research carried out. As for the first block indicated, the investigation has yielded numerous documentation that rebels the day to day of the guild from these diverse perspectives, that is, from the professional, with those ordinances and matters that so much worried the teachers, as was the arrival of silversmiths and foreign work, essentially through the fairs and the Cordovan masters; the social, because the group was concerned about the state of its members, as well as participating in those events of public life, through great expenses directed to the general exaltation of the monarchy or religion, and the profession itself; and finally, as the guild he worked as an artistic sponsor requiring the presence of the main artists of the city. Likewise, these collective data have also allowed an individual analysis of the economic, social and religious world in which the silversmiths participated, with particular interest in their esteem. In relation to the second block, the most important sponsoring groups have been identified: civil, religious and individual institutions, primarily members of the clergy, the nobility or the local elite. The study of the trousseau has revealed how Murcia silverware had a late development, generally focused on the parishes, where the Murcian silverware is located, while the great temples usually went to other centers. This turned Murcia into an enclave of reception of works and foreign models, from Valencia, Toledo, Cuenca, Córdoba, Madrid or Italy, whose teachers and works occupied a special role marking the development of the art of silverware in Murcia, which had between late sixteenth and early seventeenth and towards the second half of the eighteenth century its moments of greatest splendor.