El Paular: Anatomy of a Charterhouse.

Abstract

The Cartuja de Santa María de El Paular was the first of all Carthusian foundations in Castile, and the sixth of all foundations on the Iberian peninsula. Founded in 1390, the Charterhouse remained a Carthusian establishment until its exclaustration in 1835 during the period of Spanish liberal reform; since 1954 it has been home to a Benedictine community. In the fifteenth century the architectural scheme of the original cloister was refurbished under the direction of Juan Guas, and an exquisite and enormous alabaster altarpiece (8.85 x 12 m), carved and polychromed, was fashioned to fill the east end of the monks’ choir of the main church. It survives in situ, restored in 2004 by the Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Nacional. This dissertation offers an analysis of the retable in its architectural context and examines its unusual iconography in the light of Carthusian devotional currents and liturgical practice. A contemporary literary production by a prior of El Paular, Juan de Padilla’s Retablo de la vida de Christo, is brought to bear on its interpretation. Documentation is presented on the principal sculptors, painters, and polychromists active in contemporary Castile. The view is taken that this altarpiece, like that at the Spanish Charterhouse of Miraflores, was fashioned in large part by Gil Siloe and Diego de la Cruz, working as a team. Comparison of the retable with northern works, in particular works by the Meester van Koudewater (active in the Brabant), throws new light on the possible origins and training of the artists. In 1476 the Carthusian Chapter General attacked El Paular for architectural and decorative excesses and in 1503 leveled criticism at the alabaster altarpiece, citing an undefined quality of indecorum (indecentia). This dissertation examines fifteenthcentury design choices in the context of the ambitions of royal patrons and the spiritual life of the monks and probes the reasons why El Paular was singled out for criticism. The Charterhouse presents exceptional conditions for the study of Carthusian corporate identity in late medieval Spain.