Calvario

Pompeyo Leoni was in charge of making in 1605, the sculptures of the altarpieces of the Franciscan convent of San Diego, patroned by the Duke of Lerma. The sketches were made by the architect Francisco de Mora, while the assembly was made by Juan de Muniategui and the paintings by the Italian artists Vicente and Bartolome Carducho. If to these, we add the accepted intervention of Gregorio Fernandez for the tabernacle of the main retable, we find ourselves with the most renowned artists of the time, altogether in the same project. We have within the Museum's collection, nine sculptures that came from Leoni's project: a Calvary and six representations of Franciscan saints. The work was possibly made by Leoni's officer, Millán Vimercato, and the son of the artist, Miguel Angel Leoni, that would have worked over models from the master to end the piece in 1608. They are delicate and sober monumental pieces, well arranged but quickly executed. They have a clear formal simplification, with wide pleats that model the body's volumes and elegant stances. They must have had a great influence at that time on the school of Valladolid and were, without a doubt, a direct source of inspiration for the young, Gregorio Fernandez.