291
In a similar vein, we do not know if the decoration includes in the
supplements and ribs of the 10 central ribbed vaults, since they are
currently covered in mortar and ochre whitewash. It is expected
to resolve these questions at the time of the next execution of the
cleaning test program, to know the invoice, date and the structural
ordinance of the compositional statigraphic stratums.
With reference to the pictorial mural ornamentation of the West-
ern and Eastern perimeter galleries, there are evidences from the
branch of that year that it was executed by Gonzalo Pérez between
1578 and 1579
15
. The study of these paintings, from the iconographic
point of view, was presented and published in 2012, in the 13
th
issue
of this magazine
16
. It included the breakdown and detailed descrip-
tion of every discernible element or composition maintained in the
37 murals after their restoration. It should be added that this subject
is listedin the HIJUELASof that year, conceiving a range of portrayals
which should represent “
las ynsinias de cada uno de los meses comen-
ç
ando desde el mes de mar
ç
o
”, with the cost of 12 ducats per each one.
Apparently, and according to the existing documentationfromthose
HIJUELAS, , months were represented in the following order: March,
May, June, July, August, September, November, December, January
and February, with the lack of October and April
17
. At the present time,
we do not know which month corresponds to which sector or how
many of them, as well as the sector where the order of months begins,
considering that these 24 round murals form the lateral galleries (12
in the Western and 12 in the East). All of them are submitted with a
similar compositional scheme, that includes three common elements:
a pergola with vegetal adorns in the upper third, a large frame or cen-
tral moulding tally and a scene represented inside it, different in every
mural. In spite of the high percentage of losses, there are discernible
fragments of great dimensions that can be read, due to their shape
or the drawing and/or the colour, with motifs and characters that
guide us on their theme. Interpreted as a whole, it must be possible
that the representation of these scenes were allegoric, relatingmonths
or seasons with a supposed annual calendar. It would include regular
activities and tasks scheduled at the palace and other properties, in
relation with hunting, games, agriculture and the cattle industry. In
view of this, characters, motifs and landscapes, even incomplete, are
represented in the preserved fragments.
In the Northern gallery, mural paintings are present in both rounded
perimeter arches and transversal walls, following a representative
model as an upper plinth, with horizontal cresting bands which de-
limit representations of frontal series of arches, with figures, motifs
and scenes inside them, difficult to interpret because of the high
percentage of losses
18.
The external series of arches of the Northern gallery are also decorat-
ed, based on the North-western and the North-eastern courtyards. In
2011 important ornamental traces of heraldic themes are discovered
during the interventions, in the spandrels, plinths and pilasters. In the
plinth, there are octagonal compositions delimiting lions and double
columns of Hercules crowned and with phylactery. In the spandrels, a
trace of floral adorns and finally in the pilasters, great fragments rep-
resenting marmoreal shafts surrounded by phylactery alluding
Plus
Ultra
. All the decorative elements are heraldic, with the purpose of
exalting the idea of imperialist monarchy fromCarlos V.
The fact that these arched courtyards still maintain part of their Re-
naissance decoration, leads us to consider the possibility that the same
decoration could also have been represented in the rest of external
arcades of the old landscaped courtyards of the
Crucero
. The primitive
courtyards open to the outside forming the
Crucero
are four, currently
buried in the ruins. They were surrounded by cryptoporticos whose
murals, as previously seen, were profusely decorated in the sixteenth
and eighteenth centuries were reinforced —following the disasters
caused by the earthquake—to avoid larger collapses blocking off the
arcades previously. These galleries became narrow passages where the
internal side of those arches can be seen with their covered openings.
Fortunately, their polychrome murals have persisted over time, being
the object of this complex intervention program. The inner side of
these arches and their walls are visible from the perimeter galleries.
The apparition of these pictorial Renaissance traces in the external fa-
çades of the Northern gallery, lead us to think about how the external
arcades could be polychrome. They even give the hope that someday
—if the numerous circumstances allow— these cloisters could be re-
vealed from their confined darkness.
CURRENT SITUATION OF THE VAULTS INTERVENED IN
THE CENTRAL GALLERY
The restoration accomplished in themural paintings of the Baths dur-
ing these years has revealed the scope of this ornamentation and the
great desire to eliminate the medieval mark imbued in the building,
transforming them intomodern spaces of mannerist influence. Fortu-
nately, in the three intervened vaults—the two fromthe entrance and
the penultimate (ogival non-ribbed) from the central gallery, in spite
of the precarious conditions of the lining, a wide range of Plateresque
composition has been revealed, providing great artistic interest to the
Renaissance ensemble. As previously seen, cleaning tests are going be
executed in the ribbed vaults based on the pond of the central gallery.
This will also reveal if they are still polychrome underlying the ochre
liming, which covers supplements and ribs nowadays.
What we can attest is that the two first access sections from the
central gallery were decorated with paintings by Juan Díaz y Juan
de Saucedo in 1577, as mentioned above, being firstly painted when
the passage was opened that year. There is no evidence of the pen-
ultimate ogival vault, but it was likely painted by the painter Juan
Chacón, also in charge of the decoration of the sculptural fountain
of the sector.
Fromnow on, we are going to focus on the current situation of these
three intervened vaults, which have gone unnoticed for decades be-
cause of the numerous added coats which covered the surface partial
or totally, hiding the paintings and therefore their formal apprecia-
tion, without the existence of written evidences, probably ignored
because of the absence of visible traces and the disinterest generated
by the perception of neglect presented for decades.
Artistic and technical aspects from the state of preservation before
the intervention are going to be described, and finally the interven-
tion provided in situ in the group of vaults.
I. LOWERED VAULT
The first section of the passage is accessible from the Dance garden
and it is virtually the hall of the
Patio del Crucero
, popularly known
as
Ba
ñ
os de D
ñ
a. M
ª
de Padilla.
It is entirely decorated with a painted
lowered vault, walls and benches covered in tiles. With regards to
its location it is aligned with the Dance gardens and the pavement
which communicates the frontal gardens of the Maidens, the
Alcoba
