The presbytery: Altarpiece
The current altarpiece in the church
of San Miguel is the best documented of the many altarpieces found in the city of
Segovia. Its realization took place between 1665 and 1672.
Two projects were presented for its
realization: One by José Vallejo Vivanco, and another by Juan de Lobera, the
latter being the one preferred by the parish priest and the parishioners. The
executor of the work was the Aragonese José Ferreras, already a resident of
Segovia.
The altarpiece is structured in
three streets distributed by four large Corinthian columns, seated on a high
pedestal. In the lateral registers there are six canvases of uneven invoice and
each of these paintings was paid for by parishioners of San Miguel.
Altarpiece Paintings
From the inventory carried out in
1673 it is known that the six paintings in the side streets were "taken
from the originals of the chapel of Don Antonio de Contreras which is in the
Capuchin convent of this city", following the originals of Francisco Rizzi
and Juan Carero de Miranda.
In the opinion of Fernando Collar de
Cáceres, the paintings on the San Miguel altarpiece were copied by local
artists, probably by Francisco Herranz and Cristóbal Pérez de Teruel in the
Temptations of San Antonio.
These are the paintings
- The Adoration of the Magi.
- Circumcision.
- The temptations of San Antonio
Abad.
- Christ in the House of Simón
(Magdalena wiping Christ's feet).
- The Birth of the Virgin.
- The Annunciation.
- In the attic of the altarpiece
there is an Immaculate Conception, although at first an image of Saint Michael
dressed as a Roman was arranged, with his sword and shield where it was read
"Quir Sicut deus" and donation of Don Antonio Bermúdez de Navacerrada,
councilor of the city and parishioner of the parish
Image of San Miguel
In the central axis of the
altarpiece, a sculpture of the archangel San Miguel by Pedro Salvador from
Valladolid, although the polishing was the work of José Ratés, while Pedro de
Prádena, a native of Toledo, took care of the gilding. In 1627 the parish paid
6 reales to the painter Agustín Torrijano, for painting the figure of the
little devil at the feet of San Miguel.
In the central part, the tabernacle
as an evocative temple of the Temple of Solomon exalts the presence of Christ
in the Eucharist.
For the realization of the
altarpiece, different donations and alms were received that contributed to the
cost of its realization. Thus, in 1678 it is said that Juan Pérez Polo and Antonia
Fernández donated 500 reales for the church altarpiece. In 1684, 40 reales were
paid to compose and paint the pedestal of the main chapel and in 1697 the
parapets of the main chapel were whitewashed.
