C A N T A B R I A   U N I V E R S I T Y
 
 
   
 
  Churches, Hermitages and Sanctuaries   Religious Architecture
Hermitages and Sanctuaries
Altarpieces
Sepulchral sculpture
Renaissance and Baroque painting
 
Sepulchral sculpture.  
    Sepulchre of Don Antonio del Corro
(San Vicente de la Barquera)
  During the early modern period, the sepulchral sculpture became highly significant. Many private chapels were built inside the churches and hermitages, and the spulchres of important people arranged there. In the Renaissance period, the recumbent image of the corpse, inherited from the late-Gothic style remained. However, then, a more naturalist style was adopted, with the development of genuine likenesses. This can be seen already in the sepulchres of Antonio del Corro in the parish church of San Vicente de la Barquera, and of Fernando de Palacios in Limpias.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the sepulchral image appears praying on a keeling stool, dressed according to social status. This pattern is taken from the mannerist royal sepulchres made by Pompeyo Leoni in El Escorial. The clergymen and noblemen of Cantabria adopted this pattern, emulating royalty, and therefore strengthening their social standing, as can be seen in the sepulchre of Alonso de Camino in the convent of San Ildefonso in Ajo. The evolution fashion can be appreciated in the sepulchre of Felipe Vélez Cachupín, in Laredo, in which already he wears the typical 18th century coat. It is worth mentioning Archbishop Francisco de Otero and Cossío's cenotaph in the Chapel of the Lignum Crucis, for its rich Baroque effect.

 
   
 
Sepulchral sculpture of Don Francisco de Otero y Cossío
(Santo Toribio de Liébana)
 
   
   
   
   
                               
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