Perspective scenery

An architect and sculptor, Siloé was a leading exponent of the Spanish Renaissance architect ure of the first half of the sixteenth century. Amongst his most important works are the ones he did in Burgos cathedral and the Royal Chapel in Granada. This drawing is his only surviving architectural design. It contains elements of fantasy, for which reason it has been considered a possible stage set or short-lived decoration, but at the same time it shows a good knowledge of the classical language. Its mastery of one-point perspective and the three-dimensional effect speak for contact with Italian developments which he may have learnt in Naples during a brief stay in about 1517.