Diego Siloe or Diego de Siloé (c. 1490 - 1563) was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Renaissance architect

Renaissance architecture

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...

 and sculptor, progenitor of the Granadan school of sculpture

Granadan school of sculpture

The Granadan school of sculpture or Granadine school of sculpture—the tradition of Christian religious sculpture in Granada, Andalusia, Spain—began in the 16th century and constituted a clear tradition of its own by the 17th century...

. He developed the majority of his work in Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

.

Biography

Siloe was most likely the son of the Spanish-Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 sculptor Gil de Siloé. He spent the first part of his artistic career (1519–1528) in his birthplace, Burgos

Burgos

Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...

, where he worked principally as a sculptor.

The works of de Siloé combine the Italian Renaissance style that he had studied on a visit to Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 around 1517 with the influences of the Spanish Gothic and of Arab architecture in Spain. The gilded staircase of the Burgos Cathedral

Burgos Cathedral

The Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral in Burgos, Spain. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for its vast size and unique architecture. Its construction began in 1221, and was in use nine years later, although work continued on and off for two hundred years...

 (1519) is his most important work of this period. Its well-proportioned, round and airy structure with sculptures of cherub

Cherub

A cherub is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God...

s, coats of arms, and vegetal ornamentation, occupies an entire wall of the cathedral. With this design, Siloe resolved the problem that the Coronería door of the Cathedral, situated in the north arm of the transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

, was level with the street but stood several meters above the floor of the Cathedral. The monumental staircase splits into two sections parallel to the back wall, and incorporates architectural elements of the classicist tradition, in the style of the Italian architect Donato Bramante

Donato Bramante

Donato Bramante was an Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St...

.
From 1528 until the end of his life, Siloe worked in Granada, above all as an architect. His arrival in the city marks the beginning of classicism in Andalusia. He was commissioned to complete two previously projected projects: the church of the Monastery of Saint Jerome

Monastery of Saint Jerome (Granada)

The Monastery of St. Jerome is a Roman Catholic church and Hieronymite monastery in Granada, Spain. Architecturally, it is in the Renaissance style...

 (burial place of the Fernández family of Córdoba

Córdoba, Spain

-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...

, including the tomb of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba known as The Great Captain, Duke of Terranova and Santangelo, Andria, Montalto and Sessa, also known as Gonzalo de Córdoba, Italian: Gonsalvo or Consalvo Ernandes di Cordova was a Spanish general fighting in the times of the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars...

, "El Gran Capitán") and the Granada Cathedral

Granada Cathedral

Granada Cathedral is the cathedral in the city of Granada, capital of the province of the same name in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia, Spain.-History:...

, which he made into two of the outstanding buildings in the Renaissance style in Spain. The monastery church is distinguished by the immense dome covering its central space, after the fashion of funerary buildings of Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

. The elevations show references to the work of Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...

, with large pillars fronted by Corinthian half-columns, matching the height of the nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

s, with a second body of supports over the entablature

Entablature

An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...

 of the first. Most outstanding is the Portada del Perdón ("Door of Pardon", c. 1534) conceived as a great triumphal arch

Triumphal arch

A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...

. Its rich decoration and the energetic and fluid lines and curves of its interior were an early expression of the Plateresque

Plateresque

Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" , was an artistic movement, especially architectural, traditionally held to be exclusive to Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in the late 15th century, and spread over the next two centuries...

 in Spain.

Among his other most notable projects are the Sacra Capilla de El Salvador del Mundo ("Holy Chapel of the Savior of the World") in Úbeda

Úbeda

Úbeda is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with some 35,600 inhabitants. Both this city and the neighboring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the early 16th century resulting in the construction of a series of Renaissance style palaces...

, conceived as a burial place for the Cobos family. It has a central nave of three wings, side chapels between buttress

Buttress

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

es, and culminates in a circular space covered by a large dome.

Besides the Cathedral of Granada, de Siloe was the primary architect of the Almería, Málaga and Guadix Cathedral

Guadix Cathedral

The Guadix Cathedral, Cathedral of Guadix, or Cathedral of the Incarnation is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Guadix, province of Granada, Spain. Construction of the building began in the 16th century and was completed in the mid-18th century...

s in Spain, Guadalajara Cathedral

Guadalajara Cathedral

The Guadalajara Cathedral or Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady , located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara and a minor basilica. It is built in the Renaissance style, with neo-gothic towers....

 in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and the cathedrals of Lima

Lima Cathedral

The Basilica Cathedral of Lima is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in the Plaza Mayor of downtown Lima, Peru. Construction began in 1535, and the building has undergone many reconstructions and transformation since, however it still retains its colonial structure and facade...

 and Cuzco in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. He was also the sculptor of a notable tomb in Spain's Basque Country, the mausoleum of Bishop Rodrigo Mercado de Zuazola, who was president of the chancery of Granada. Carved from white marble, full of grotesque and allegorical scenes, it stands in the chapel of the Pietà in the Church the Archangel Michael in Oñati

Oñati

Oñati is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It has a population of approximately 10,500 and lies in a valley in the center of the Basque country. It lies about 40 km south of the Bay of Biscay and is about 236 m...

.

He died in Granada.

External links

Biography and works