Our Images

Holy Recumbent Christ

The Recumbent Christ of the Cathedral of Segovia is a work by Gregorio Fernández, a distinguished master based in the city of Valladolid, who made between 1631 and 1636. It was donated to the Cathedral of Segovia by Bishop Don Melchor Moscoso de Sandoval according to in the capitulary act of March 8, 1631. The Recumbent Christs within the work of Gregorio Fernández are perhaps the most outstanding and what most affected the religiosity of the town.

It is true that the subject had already had abundant samples since the Middle Ages and in the 16th century some carvings were made by such famous image makers as Juan de Juni or Gaspar Becerra. Gregorio Fernández likes to place the Yacentes on the bench of the altarpiece, so that all of it can be articulated around the image. This occurs in the case of Segovia, where the Recumbent, inside a golden urn, occupies the lower part of the altarpiece, a work by Juan de Lobera corresponding to the third quarter of the 17th century, above the image there are two canvases that represent the Descent and the Calvary.

The Yacente de Segovia is after the famous Cristo de El Pardo, and presents the characteristics of the Yacentes de Fernández, who, when making these pieces, follows the model of the first, with small variations in all his copies. As this is a late work, it is further perfected, to the point of making an absolutely splendid image, an example of his good work. Christ placed on a shroud with abundant triangular folds, rests his head on a white pillow adorned with beautiful embroidered motifs. The head turned to the left side seems to look at the viewer, half-open eyes and also his mouth, in which the teeth can be seen. Deep expression of death. Some fine drops of blood produced by the crown of thorns slide down his forehead, an eyebrow pierced by a thorn also appears. The bipartite carved beard and curly-stranded hair are spread out on the pillow, where the painter has added even finer locks.

Regarding the modeling of the body, Gregorio Fernández creates an exhausted body. Small threads of blood join with those produced by the large wounds, highlighting among all of them the lance, a deep wound from which blood and water sprout. The piece is a beautiful anatomical study of the naked body, as the purity cloth modestly falls to cover it, but it is open, revealing the entirety of the left leg. This cloth is blue in color and is made up of very deep folds. The muscles of Christ's body seem to be still in tension, this together with the deep expression of the face, makes it seem that Christ is still alive. His arms are stretched out on the shroud and his wounded hands are punctured by the nails. Details such as nail additions give greater realism. His right leg is straight, while the left is slightly flexed to better show his knees full of bleeding wounds probably caused by falls on his way to Calvary. There are also streams of blood coming from his feet.

The polychromy of the body is made with a very fine matte incarnation, except for the fingers and toes, which are bruised. The painter seems to recreate himself in the blood, giving rise to light and dark tones, areas in which it seems still hot and others in which it has already coagulated. This, together with the use of small fragments of other materials, gives the figures great realism.

In short, we are facing a piece in which all the elements come together to help and move the faithful to piety, which is, after all, what the Parish of San Andrés tries to do by taking it out in procession through the streets. of Segovia every Good Friday and through the candle shifts kept by the parishioners before the image on Good Thursday and Good Friday.

In recent years, the Recumbent Christ has been present in two editions of the “Edades del Hombre”: in 2003 in Segovia in the exhibition “El Árbol de la vida” and in 2013 in Arévalo as part of “Credo” . In 2011 it was one of the images selected to represent the stations of the Via Crucis that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVII would preside over on the occasion of the World Youth Days. These facts demonstrate the great artistic quality of the Lying Christ.

Poem to the Holy Lying Christ composed by Wenceslao Huertas Barios, President of the San Andrés Parish:

The deep wound in your side

serious, half-closed eyes.

the sacred bruised body,

YOU LIVE LORD, YOU ARE NOT DEAD.

On the way to your grave I accompany you

when it's already dark on Good Friday

and they are already in Segovia resounding

wails of intemperate drums.

Distress feels the people excited

when he sees you arrive slowly.

Our soul shrinks, year after year,

seeing your good death: LYING CHRIST

What an austere and poor escort for a King,

only armed with prayers and silence,

the crackle of torches and their Faith,

and a black twill cap.

You will have no more Lord, no one more faithful

with you in your dying, for you living,

that a neighborhood called San Andrés

who knows that: YOU LIVE AND HAVE NOT DIED!

Holy Christ of Patience

There are few documentary data that have appeared in the archives of our parish referring to this carving, although it is not ruled out that more may be found in the future. The only thing we know for sure is that during the 17th century it was placed in the Chapel of San Gregorio (curiously, the one on the opposite side of the place it occupies today in the church) and that it enjoyed great devotion among the parishioners.

All other considerations made about the image must be based on artistic analysis in order to establish a chronology through it. Thus, it can be affirmed that we find a model made in the first half of the 16th century that was re-polychromed and placed on another cross in later times.

Christ is nailed to the cross by means of three nails, with his arms forming a slightly pronounced v, his feet in internal rotation and his right leg slightly forward of the left to adapt to the position of the crucifixion. It presents a fairly well-executed anatomy, typical of this 16th century in which the Renaissance currents are reaching Spain through artists trained in Italian workshops. However, upon the arrival of these masters in Spain, Italian Renaissance tastes did not fully adapt given the great roots of Gothic forms in the Peninsula. Therefore, they must make an art influenced by the perfection and beauty of Italy, but with the expressiveness and drama of Spanish taste. This fact is important when talking about our Christ of Patience, since, if his body, as was said, tries to be truthful, faithful to proportions and look for beauty, the same does not happen in the face. This is presented with reminiscences of late Gothic Flemish art, with great expressiveness and feeling, a tremendous gesture of pain and anguish from which life has left a few moments ago. The hair appears falling on the sides of his head in which there is a braided crown of thorns. This hair gives us an important clue, as it is grouped into strands simulating being wet, a characteristic of many works of the 16th century that was made fashionable by the sculptor Alonso de Berruguete.

The cloth of purity is very short, already abandoned the previous forms, covering only up to the middle of the thighs. Like the rest of the image, this cloth had undergone a re-polychromy, probably at the end of the 17th century. Thanks to the restoration carried out last year, it was discovered that under this layer there were quite a few remains of the original polychromy that could be rebuilt. This is based on golden circular shapes achieved through the stew technique, with a very rich result. Once again, this way of making the gilding of the cloth takes us back to the 16th century, since in the following century this way of doing it was practically abandoned.

Therefore, we are faced with an image of great value, a work that probably came from the hands of a disciple of one of the workshops influenced by the leading sculptors who brought the tastes of the Italian Renaissance to Spain. A work that shines with great prominence and splendor on Holy Thursday when it is carried on the shoulders of sixteen penitents through the most emblematic corners of our neighborhood and our city.