José Benito de Churriguera (March 21, 1665 – March 2, 1725) was a Spanish architect, sculptor and urbanist of the late-Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 or Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 style. He was born in Madrid to a Catalan

Catalan people

The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...

 cabinetmaker, gilder

Gilder

Gilder may refer to :* A craftsman who performs gilding* A character in the video game Skies of Arcadia; see Skies of Arcadia characters.* A program by MDY designed to assist players in World of Warcraft in collecting in game valuables.-People:...

 and altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

 joiner

Joiner

A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...

, Josep Simó Xoriguera i Elies and to doña Maria de Ocaña, and studied under his father along with two of his brothers.

His excessively decorated style, which can be described as an obsessively over-wrought horror vacui

Horror vacui

thumb|Many paintings by [[Outsider Art]]ist [[Adolf Wölfli]] contain space filled with writing or musical notationIn visual art, horror vacui is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail....

on any surface or facade, led to the adjective churrigueresque

Churrigueresque

Churrigueresque refers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural ornament which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late 17th century and was used up to about 1750, marked by extreme, expressive and florid decorative detailing, normally found above the...

. In Spain, the artistry appears to have been influenced by the highly decorated styles of Moorish architecture

Moorish architecture

Moorish architecture is the western term used to describe the articulated Berber-Islamic architecture of North Africa and Al-Andalus.-Characteristic elements:...

. He and his two brothers Joaquin (1674–1724) and Alberto (1676–1750) were recognized as the leading architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s of their time.

Works

His works include or are found in the following:

• The altarpiece in the church for Convent of San Esteban in Salamanca
  Salamanca
  Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
  
  
• The Cathedral of Salamanca
  Salamanca
  Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
  
  .
• The church of saint Sebastian in Madrid
  Madrid
  Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
  
  
• The church of San Cayetano
  San Cayetano Church, Madrid
  The Church of Saint Cajetan, known as the church of San Millán y San Cayetano is a Baroque church in Madrid, Spain.- History :The present church was built adjacent to the now absent Convent of Nuestra Señora del Favor . It was built at the site of an oratory dedicated to St...
  
   in Madrid.
• The church of saint Thomas
  Thomas the Apostle
  Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
  
   in Madrid.
• The Goyeneche Palace
  Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
  The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando , located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery....
  
   in Madrid.
• The Goyeneche Palace, church
  Goyeneche Palace, Nuevo Baztán
  The Goyeneche Palace in Nuevo Baztán, Community of Madrid, Spain, is an eighteenth-century palace with a linked church. It was designed by José de Churriguera, an architect known for a profusely decorated style known as Churrigueresque...
  
   and garden in the factory town of Nuevo Baztán
  Nuevo Baztán
  Nuevo Baztán is a municipality southeast of Madrid, near Alcalá de Henares, Spain. It consists of a small historic centre and modern housing estates. The historic centre was designed as an industrial and housing complex laid out on a grid plan...
  
  , near Alcalá de Henares
  Alcalá de Henares
  Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
  
  .
• The chapel of the Sacristy (Sagrario) in the Cathedral of Segovia.
• The altarpiece of the Transit of the Virgin in the cathedral in Palencia
  Palencia
  Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...
  
  .