EL SEPULCRO DEL ARZOBISPO DON FRANCISCO BLANCO COMO EJEMPLO DEL “ARTE CONTAMINADO” DE MATEUS LOPES.

Abstract

The death of João de Ruão, occurred in Coimbra, in 1580, coincides with the last stage of the archbishopric of Don Francisco Blanco de Salcedo, who ruled Compostela between 1574-81. At his death, his testators entrusted the design of his tomb to the Portuguese architect Mateus Lopes, who had been living in the city for two years. Through this project, this artist introduced in Galicia that contaminated style, so typical of Portuguese XVIth century and related to the style of João de Ruão, in which architecture and sculpture are combined in a total work of art.

This work was followed by others of greater relevance, but the tomb of Archbishop Blanco should be considered the precedent for the design and development of subsequent projects, thus its importance should be reassessed.