Three Fountains from Gonzalo De La Bárcena's Workshop
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buildings Article Renaissance Drawings of the 16th Century in the City of Lugo: Three Fountains from Gonzalo de la Bárcena’s Workshop José Antonio Franco Taboada 1,* ID and Ana E. Goy Diz 2 ID 1 Department of Architectural Graphics, Higher Technical University College of Architecture, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain 2 Department of History of Art, Faculty of Humanities, University of Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-619-316-435 Received: 23 January 2018; Accepted: 12 March 2018; Published: 16 March 2018 Abstract: Historically, urban fountains have been underestimated to the point of not being considered worthy of conservation. The foregoing reason, together with the lack of sufficient archaeological data on this type of element in the Renaissance city, makes it necessary to document and carry out graphic research to correct this deficiency and establish the relevance of these constructions. The present work shows, through the concrete case method, the analysis of three Renaissance fountains from the Spanish city of Lugo and the importance of these elements as urban landmarks that marked the essential lines of the development of cities after the medieval period. It also analyses the work of their constructors, who belonged to a workshop of plumbers and master builders from the historical territory of Trasmiera (Cantabria) and who took their art throughout the Spanish kingdom. Keywords: architecture; renaissance; representation; fountains; lugo 1. Introduction In the reigns of Carlos I and his son Felipe II, architects and engineers from other parts of Europe came to Spain, especially Flemish and Italian ones, and brought with them the first Renaissance treatises, which in turn stimulated significant development in these fields. Among the first of these was the Italian engineer from Cremona, Giovanni Torriani, known as Juanelo Turriano, creator of a hydraulic machine, possibly inspired by those of Leonardo da Vinci, which was used to raise water 90 metres from the Tagus River to the castle and the city of Toledo. Unfortunately, this is no longer standing today, but its impact on the landscape was immortalised by El Greco in his View of Toledo, which he painted around 1599–1600 (Figure1, left). In addition to these foreign masters, the main architects of the court, such as Juan Bautista de Toledo, Juan de Herrera and Jerónimo Gil, were involved in leading hydraulic projects, such as Los Caños del Peral Fountain in Madrid, the Ontígola Sea and the Big Fountain in Ocaña. Without reaching these levels of engineering skill, workshops of master builders, such as those from the historical Cantabrian territory of Trasmiera, whose citizens were known as “trasmeranos”, among which were entire families of the likes of Anzillo, Arce, Bárcena, Campo, Castillo and Cerecedo, among many others, demonstrated great expertise on these matters [1]. Among these, possibly the best were Juan de Herrera [2] and Simón de Monasterio. Buildings 2018, 8, 44; doi:10.3390/buildings8030044 www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings Buildings 2018, 8, 44 2 of 17 Buildings 2018, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 17 Figure 1. On the left, View of Toledo by El Greco [3]. On the right, reproduction of a plate of Hans Figure 1. On the left, View of Toledo by El Greco [3]. On the right, reproduction of a plate of Hans Vredeman de Vries’s Artis perspectivae formulae, depicting a fountain in perspective [4]. Vredeman de Vries’s Artis perspectivae formulae, depicting a fountain in perspective [4]. These masters from Trasmiera worked throughout the entire Peninsula and in the Canary Islands,These and masters even reached from Trasmiera the continent worked of America throughout in the the case entire of PeninsulaRodrigo Gil and de inRozillo, the Canary known Islands, also andas evenRodrigo reached de Liendo the continent because of he America came from in the that case Cantabrian of Rodrigo town Gil de where Rozillo, he knownbuilt the also San as Andrés Rodrigo dehermitage Liendo because [5]. During he came his fromAmerican that Cantabrian phase, he townwas whereresponsible he built forthe important San Andr worksés hermitage in Santo [5 ]. DuringDomingo, his Americanincluding phase,the Fortress, he was the responsible Convent of for La important Merced and works San inFrancisco Santo Domingo, church. In including his role as the Fortress,“plumber”, the Conventhe brought of water La Merced to the and city. San Evidentl Franciscoy, no church.works were In his undertaken role as “plumber”, which could he broughtmatch waterthe importance to the city. and Evidently, technical nonovelty works of werethe “Artificio undertaken de Juanelo” which couldor the matchornamental the importancerichness of the and technicalfountains novelty imagined of the by “ArtificioVredeman de de Juanelo” Vries, such or the as ornamentalin Figure 1 (right-hand richness of side). the fountains imagined by VredemanIn this de work Vries, we such will as focus in Figure on an1 (right-hand important work side).shop in the field of hydraulic engineering in Spain,In thisthat workof Gonzalo we will de focus Bárcen ona an[6], important who came workshop to hold the in title the fieldof “The of hydraulicKing’s Plumber” engineering under in Spain,Felipe that II and of Gonzalo who was de involved Bárcena in [6 both], who hydraulic came to holdworks the and title architectural of “The King’s design. Plumber” under Felipe II andThe who importance was involved and in originality both hydraulic of the research works and we architectural are presenting design. is based on the fact that it has beenThe possible importance to achieve and originalityits main objective: of the research to represent we are the presenting public fountain is baseds built on in the Lugo fact thatoverit the has beenlast possiblequarter of to the achieve 16th century its main using objective: the original to represent drawings the public that were fountains attached built to inthe Lugo work over contracts the last quartersigned of between the 16th the century Lugo usingCouncil the and original the aforemen drawingstioned that wereworkshop. attached Today, to the two work of these contracts fountains signed betweenare no longer the Lugo standing. Council The and third the remains, aforementioned but is highly workshop. altered, Today, but at twoleast of it these has been fountains possible are to no longerrecover standing. it as a lost The architectural third remains, asset but that is highly has beco altered,me part but of at the least collective it has been memory possible of tosociety. recover In it asSpain, a lost there architectural are few assetoriginal that designs has become preserved part offrom the this collective time, so memory the case of of society. the fountains In Spain, in Lugo there is are fewexceptional original designsbecause, preservedfor various fromreasons, this most time, have so thebeen case lost. of the fountains in Lugo is exceptional because,Underlying for various the reasons, main conclusions most have beenobtained lost. is another of the fundamental objectives of this work—toUnderlying show how the mainbehind conclusions the apparent obtained formal simp is anotherlicity of these of the urban fundamental elements is objectives always hidden of this a complex underground hydraulic infrastructure project, which required an enormous mastery of work—to show how behind the apparent formal simplicity of these urban elements is always hidden architectural technique by its authors, the “trasmeranos”. a complex underground hydraulic infrastructure project, which required an enormous mastery of For the virtual reconstruction of the fountains, we could have used any technology or 3D architectural technique by its authors, the “trasmeranos”. software that could admit hyperrealistic finishes—given the wide range available in the market—but For the virtual reconstruction of the fountains, we could have used any technology or 3D software also any classic 2D program that would allow us to perform the graphic survey according to the that could admit hyperrealistic finishes—given the wide range available in the market—but also any current rules of architectural technical drawing. classic 2D program that would allow us to perform the graphic survey according to the current rules Finally we chose an intermediate solution. That is, to use a program that allows us to generate of architectural technical drawing. images that are easily understandable but at the same time being reliable reconstructions. To do this, we Finallyopted for we the chose creation an intermediate of 3D models solution. with Sket ThatchUp is, Pro to use2017. a programFor the rendering that allows of the us toviews, generate we imagesused the that free are Visualizer easily understandable application, but but with at the the same models time opened being in reliable SketchUp reconstructions. Pro 2014, because To do this this, wesoftware opted fordoes the not creation work with of 3Dthe 2016 models and with later SketchUpversions. Lastly, Pro 2017. the images For the were rendering treated with of the a sepia views, wefilter used to theevoke, free in Visualizer some way, application, the antiquity but of withthe fountains. the models opened in SketchUp Pro 2014, because this softwareThe models does were not work generated with thein grey 2016 scale and laterdue versions.to the impossibility Lastly, the of images making were an treatedexact digital with a sepiarecreation filter to of evoke,the materials in some and way, textures the antiquity used in the of theoriginal fountains. constructions, since the only material that we could verify that had been used was granite, as it is stated in the works contracts of the Provincial Buildings 2018, 8, 44 3 of 17 The models were generated in grey scale due to the impossibility of making an exact digital recreation of the materials and textures used in the original constructions, since the only material that we could verify that had been used was granite, as it is stated in the works contracts of the Provincial Historical Archive of Lugo.