Room I: The Origin

In this room we can contemplate a series of pieces of marked autochthonous character, that speak of the origin of the city. In it we find a model dedicated to the Menga dolmen, a series of explanatory panels and remains of Neolithic materials. The main piece of this space are the remains of the burial of a member of the society, which appeared on the occasion of the works of the railroad and that was transferred in its entirety to this Museum.

Room II: Prehistory and Protohistory

The period known as Prehistory is characterized by the non-existence of writing, which is why the observation of the archaeological remains of the constructions of that time and the data provided by the studies of the different material cultures are fundamental to know the prehistoric ways of life.
The passage of human beings through the lands of Antequera has been confirmed in two fundamental periods: the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, and proof of this are the tools that are exhibited in the showcases of this room. The transition from gathering to agriculture, from hunting to cattle raising, brought with it a change in the Neolithic way of life that resulted in the specialization of the different tools and objects of daily use, both lithic and ceramic: varied flakes, various vessels and even a mill can be seen in the showcases of this room from nearby sites, such as the Torcal de Antequera and Sierra de Chimeneas, whose chronology can be extended from 4500 to 1600 BC.

Later, the use of metals gave way to a qualitative change in the societies of the final Neolithic, developing the so-called “Culture of the Campaniform Glass” of great diffusion, and highlighting the phenomenon of megalithic architecture: large constructions related to burials and various types of tombs, such as the Dolmen Gallery of the Dolmen of Menga, whose model we can see, appreciating the different compartments of this clear example of burial chamber preceded by an atrium and corridor.
Finally, before leaving this room, it is worthwhile for the visitor to pay attention to the curiosity generated by this idol from the Late Bronze Age in the shape of a violin made of calcareous stone, whose ends represent the male and female sex respectively. Undoubtedly, its meaning is related to the cult of fertility, so typical of prehistoric cultures.

Room III. Rome I

It is worth stopping in the vestibules that separate the Prehistoric and Roman rooms to contemplate the large mosaic from the end of the 3rd century that rises on the wall that frames the access to the latter.
This mosaic fragment comes from one of the rooms of the Roman villa of Caserío Silverio. It is the image of a reclining old man personifying the river Tiber, identified by the epigraphy above the figure. He carries in his right hand a horn of plenty.
The complete mosaic surface of this room is about 140 m2. Among the remains that have been preserved are several fragmented verses belonging to Book IV of Virgil’s Georgics and some aquatic scenes.
The verses and the personification of the river allude to the fragment of the work in which Aristeo enters the bottom of the river, the cave of Cyrene, from where the great rivers of the known world emerge. The book ends with the goddess Cyrene entrusting Aristeus with the secret of the bees’ procreation.

At the beginning of the tour of this museum of the city, in the first room we saw how the presence of Rome is attested by a stone inscription with the term “ANTIK”, an abbreviation of ANTIKARIA, Roman name from which the current name of Antequera derives. And, as we will see, the Roman past of the city is largely evidenced by the evidence and the importance of its large number of archaeological remains, from the same urban core and the sites of Singilia Barba, the Villa de la Estación, Caserío Silverio and the Vega Baja de Antequera.
From the different Roman municipalities located in the depression of Antequera such as: Singilia Barba, Aratispi, Nescania, Oscua and Anticaria itself and from the villas and their necropolis that were articulated around the different roads that linked this vast territory with the Via Augusta.

Upon entering the room, the first thing the visitor will notice is that if for the Neolithic cultures the idea of death was manifested in their constructions, in the Roman world it was no different.
Both burial and cremation coexisted during the Roman period during the first two centuries of our era, but, from the third century onwards, burial became more common as the influence of Christianity increased in the empire. Proof of this are the archaeological remains displayed throughout this room: in the first of the showcases, a rich display of funerary vessels; next to it, a large sample of various tools: vessels and ceramic pieces of terra sigillata, jars, cups, bowls, skylights and everyday utensils in bronze, an Ionic capital and various altars, made of stone materials such as sandstone limestone and marble and granite, with a profuse decoration in relief and also a large amphora intended for the transport of oil that indicates the importance of olive growing in the lands of southern Hispania.

In the center of the room is the monumental mausoleum of Acilia Plecusa, a 2nd century columbarium. A.D. from a necropolis near Singilia Barba. The monumentality of it leads us to verify the social level of its owner and the importance of the funerary cult in antiquity, and by extension, in the lands of the Roman Anticaria.

Room IV: Rome II. Efebo de Antequera (1st century A.D.)

This room is dedicated exclusively to display one of the great works of art not only of this museum, but of Roman sculpture in Hispania: the so-called “Efebo de Antequera”. The sculpture was made around the first century A.D. in bronze, following the technique of the lost wax, shows a young boy whose aesthetic characteristics and his gesture of cadenced movement dynamizing the left leg, put in relation to this worthy sculpture with the neo-Attic Greek masters. His eyes must have been made of vitreous paste, carrying in his right hand a lampadarium (a large bronze lamp).

This type of sculptures adorned the great triclinium or main dining rooms of the villas and are a sculptural reflection of the young servants who used to attend the banquets.

The Ephebe is a unique piece, valued internationally as one of the most beautiful sculptures of this type from the Roman period, compared to the Ephebe of Porta Vesuvius in Pompeii, the Apollo of the Sabouroff Collection of the Berlin Museum, or the Ephebe of the Roman city of Volubilis in Morocco.
The sculpture was discovered by chance in the Antequera farmhouse of “Las Piletas” in the 50’s, its discovery and the desire of the people of Antequera to keep it in the locality are the main cause of the creation of this museum in the 60’s. The piece has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.

Room V: Rome III. Roman epigraphic collection. Mosaic and parietal painting

Room dedicated to epigraphy in the Roman world. With official character, in most cases, the inscriptions on stone tell us about personalities and relevant facts in the urban life of the Roman municipalities of the lands of Antequera. The case of Marco Valerio Proculino and those referring to the family of the “Acilios” and other wealthy characters of the ancient Singilia Barba and Anticaria. They are usually pedestals on which the statues of the honored personages were erected and which were located in the forums of these cities.

The milestones, also present, fulfilled the signaling function of roadways and roads. And the capitals testify to the greatness of Roman constructions, both religious and civil. In many cases, these remains were later used as construction material for new monuments and buildings.

In the walls we can contemplate the importance of the Roman mosaic decoration. These mosaics, made up of innumerable glazed and colored tesserae, were essentially decorative for floors and interior walls. As in painting, his themes were varied, as we can see in this mosaic of “Erotes tasting the wine of the harvest” or the plant motifs of the parietal painting of a house of Singilia Barba.

Room VI: Rome IV. Epigraphic collection

In this room we can contemplate a careful selection of bases with epigraphic inscriptions allusive to the family of the Acilios and other influential characters in the public life of this city. Case of Manio Acilio Fronton, husband of Acilia Plecusa, knight belonging to the Roman equestrian order that reached the magistracy of prefect of engineers, or their children Manio Acilio Flegonte and Acilia Septumina. All of them were authorized by the Senate of Singilia Barba and paid for by his wife and mother. These come both from their reuse in buildings already demolished in the city and from excavations carried out in the nearby city of Singilia. Also on display is a milestone of the Via Augusta, testimony to the passage through these lands of the Via Domiciana Augusta that connected the coast of Malaga with the provincial capital of Baetica: Corduba.

Room VII: Paleo-Christian, Visigothic and Medieval Muslim

In the first showcase, in its lower part, two early Christian ceiling bricks can be seen, decorated with a chrism, alpha and omega, krater and birds. Also a small bronze representing Daniel among the lions, which may have been a processional lamp. On the upper shelf, ceramics from the emirate and caliphate periods.
The lintel of a Visigothic church from the 6th century, which in its reuse served as a step in the access door to the keep of the Alcazaba of Antequera, shows an interesting Latin inscription, which translated reads: “Alpha and Omega. In the name of the Lord. Here (is) the church of San Pedro founded by Sigerio and Vicente”.

The other two showcases display different pieces of pottery from the Almohad and Nasrid periods, from the excavations carried out in the Muslim levels of the Baths of Santa Maria, in the urban wall of the Plaza del Carmen and in the courtyard of the Alcazaba. They are candlesticks, ataifores, jugs, cups, basins, flasks and canteens. The sandstone gargoyle, found next to the Asalto tower during the works carried out by the Department of Culture in 2009, is a Nasrid work from the 15th century. Before leaving the room we can stop at one of those used by the Castilians in the capture of the Muslim village in 1410 and a limestone cylinder, drilled in its upper part, which has a Gothic inscription.

Room VIII: From medieval Castilian village to Renaissance town

To access the next floor of the Museum we can use the modern staircase or, if necessary, one of the two elevators that connect the entire building vertically in this new extension area.
We continue the visit in this Room VIII in which a series of pieces that tell us about the transformation that Antequera underwent from its condition of medieval frontier town to a Renaissance city in urban and demographic expansion. The campaign organized in 1410 by the Infante Don Fernando, regent of Castile during the minority of King Juan I1, to conquer the Muslim village of Madinat Antaqira was a resounding military and political success and the definitive backing for his election as king of Aragon in 1412. Moreover, from this warlike operation he would go down in history as Fernando de Antequera or ‘the one from Antequera’. For the urban center in question, it also meant a total population change and its conversion into a Castilian frontier town, facing the Nasrid emirate of Granada. After the conquest of the city of the Alhambra by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, Antequera, which had already received the title of city in 1443 by King Juan I1, would enter into a new era. During the 16th century, the city underwent a transformation into a great Renaissance city that grew enormously in population and economic activity. The foundation of the Royal Collegiate, by papal bull of Pope Julius II in 1503, brought with it the creation of its Chair of Grammar and the development of an important humanistic activity that would culminate in the so-called Escuela Poética antequerana del Siglo de Oro español (Antequera Poetic School of the Spanish Golden Age).

This room exhibits a series of pieces that correspond to the historical period to which we have referred. First of all, we must stop at the so-called Casulla de Santa Eufemia, made with a Nasrid fabric from the beginning of the 15th century, to which a wide central border was added at the beginning of the 16th century.
Gothic style, embroidered in gold and silks of different colors, representing various saints in full body, none of them corresponding to the saint of Chalcedon.

The stone shield of the Catholic Monarchs, which was originally the lintel of a door with a lowered arch, dates from before 1492 due to the absence of the ‘pomegranate’ at the bottom.

At the end of the room, next to the exit door, there is a glazed clay baptismal font, made in the potteries of Triana in the fifteenth century, and a polychrome wooden sculpture of the Crucified Christ, of academic size and Gothic-Renaissance work of the early sixteenth century, which comes from the church of San Juan de Dios. A collection of engravings of landscapes of Antequera from the XVI to XVIII centuries can also be contemplated.

Room IX: The San Francisco of Pedro de Mena

One of the most important sculptures by the Granada artist Pedro de Mena y Medrano (1628-1688) presides over this room and, undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the Museum: the St. Francis of Assisi on the Sepulcher, a deposit from the parish of San Miguel.

It is a sculpture, which critics have dated to around 1665-1670, life-size and made of carved and polychrome wood, representing the corpse of St. Francis as tradition has it that Pope Nicholas V found it during his visit to the tomb of Assisi. He is depicted, therefore, incorrupt, standing, looking towards the sky, with his hood drawn and his hands sheathed under his sleeves, while the blood flows from the stigmata on his side and from the right foot that appears under his tunic. In spite of what it represents, a corpse, the sensation that the spectator has is that of contemplating a mystical rapture of the saint in life. In fact, according to legend, such was the sensation experienced by the pontiff himself during his visit.

Technically the sculpture is resolved with great mastery, highlighting the naturalism of the whole piece, both in the emphatic verticality of the folds of the tunic, imitating in its polychrome the ‘patched’ stole, and in the resources used in the face: glass eyes, eyelashes of natural hair and ivory teeth, as well as warm and semi-matte flesh tones of elaborate shades. It was restored by the Consejería de Cultura in 2007.

On the right side of the room hangs a canvas of Zurbaran style, showing St. Francis kneeling in prayer. The treatment of the tunic, imitating the weave of the stamen at the tip of the brush and dotted with patches, shows us the close relationship of concept that existed in the Spanish art of the Golden Age between painters and sculptors.

Room X: Mannerism. Antonio Mohedano

The figure of Antonio Mohedano de la Gutierra (1563-1626) meant in the Antequera of his time, at the height of the Mannerist aesthetics, the most significant artistic arbitration in the fields of painting, polychrome sculpture and architectural designs and altarpieces. He trained in Cordoba with the painter Pablo de Céspedes and in Seville he had a great friendship with Francisco Pacheco, father-in-law of the painter Veláquez and an outstanding art scholar. A fan of poetry, he was a personal friend of the great Antequera poet Pedro Espinosa.

Mohedano’s pictorial work, which included fresco and oil easel painting, is widely represented in this room with works on religious themes, although we know that he was very skilled in still life and other ornaments. The first highlight is the large canvas of the Virgen de la Antigua, from the church of San Zoilo, in which the venerated mural painting of the Sevillian cathedral is freely reproduced. In Mohedano’s canvas, the painter wanted to combine the Byzantine air of the golden background and the silhouetted cloths with the naturalism of faces and hands.

In this same side of the room we can contemplate perhaps the most famous work of the painter, the so-called votive painting, which represents the seated Virgin with the Child Jesus before whom a noble child is presented, undoubtedly a portrait of some Antequera character of the time, and his Guardian Angel. The canvas reflects all the mannerist characteristics of Mohedanesque work, both in the face of the Virgin and in the head of the Child, as well as in the treatment of the sky and in the rich colors of the angel’s wings. All of this is very nuanced with the skillful use of glazes.

Two canvases with the same iconography although of different format complete this side: the Assumption of the Virgin, one a deposit from the Collegiate Church of San Sebastian and the other from the Junta de Andalucía Collection. In the first of these, which is of the largest format, Mary appears with her hands joined and ascending towards heaven where she is received by the Holy Trinity, while the Apostles surround the tomb from which she has just left. In the other canvas, which may be preparatory to the first, the Apostles have disappeared and shows a looser technique and a more unfinished treatment.

It is completed with a painting of the Virgin of Silence, which is inspired by well-known models of Florentine Mannerism. The Virgin watches over her son’s peaceful sleep, while an angel on the left indicates silence by raising a finger to his lips. St. Joseph, on the right and in the background, and the angels scattering flowers from above are less prominent.

Next we stop in front of the canvas of the Virgin of La Palma, acquired in Seville by the City Council in 2001, in which Mary appears with the Child Jesus in the center and San Juanito and Santa Catalina on both sides, forming a pyramidal type composition. Next to it, the painting of Santa Lucia, presents the character with a lady’s costume and sophisticated hairstyle adorned with pearls, and is surrounded by two angels that carry the iconographic attributes.

To the painter Miguel Domínguez Montelaisla, who died in Antequera during the plague epidemic of 1649, belongs the painting La muerte de San Nicolás de Tolentino, in which Mohedano’s influence is evident in the treatment of the figures, although it already shows clear traits of naturalism. At the end of the room we can admire a very interesting oil painting on copper, in a smaller format, representing Christ Crucified, anonymous Italian around 1600-1620, which reproduces with variants the drawing by Michelangelo kept in the British Museum in London, dated around 1556-1558, facing an ivory crucified of the late seventeenth century.

This area is completed by the important sculpture of the penitent Magdalena, a work from the last quarter of the 16th century that some years ago we attributed to the sculptor Diego de Vega.
And an immaculate with Franciscan habit of the late sixteenth century, attributed to the sculptor Lorenzo de Medina.

Room XI: Iconographies of Baroque Devotions

The room continues with a series of works mostly dedicated to baroque devotions, where we find an important work of the nineteenth-century painter José Batún, representing the Cristo del Mayor Dolor. An extraordinary representation of the Calvary from the end of the XVII century, a Saint Joseph of round bulk from the end of the XIX century, or a delicate sleeping Baby Jesus by the sculptor Diego Marques from Antequera, the room is completed with a varied series of works linked to the local popular devotions.

Room XII: Ornaments of worship. Textiles and embroidery (XVI and XVII centuries)

The most important piece on display in this area is the banner of the Virgen de la Cabeza, made by the embroiderer Pedro de Asturias in 1591. It is embroidered on both sides, highlighting in each of them a batch in gold thread and colored silks with the themes of the Virgin and Child, St. Anne and St. Roch, on the front, and the coat of arms of the city and St. Eufemia, on the back. It was restored by the Consejería de Cultura (I.A.P.H.) in 1999.

As well as the original banner of the city preserved from the first quarter of the sixteenth century, which presides over the room.
Belonging to the Collegiate Church and exhibited in two showcases located on the right side, we can admire the dalmatics and the pluvial capes of an embroidered robe, the so-called Crimson or Bishop Fernandez de Cordoba, which dates from the early seventeenth century. In the same showcase are exhibited the chasubles of the two ternos commented and the chasuble of the Evangelists, a magnificent piece of the XVI century.

The room is completed with the old canopy of the Santo Cristo Verde, made in 1636, on which is placed a canvas of Jesus del Consuelo from the convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Belen (today of the Poor Clare nuns), which represents the round sculpture of José de Mora to whom a ‘real’ Santa Teresa offers her heart. Finally a showcase collects two popular elements of the Holy Week, a luxury bell ringer, embroidered tunic of the early twentieth century and an Elder Brother, embroidered tunic of the eighteenth century, really outstanding pieces for their workmanship.

Room XIII: Worship silverware

The importance of the art of silverware in the historical heritage of the city is marked, to a large extent, by the value of the collections belonging to the Collegiate Church, the parishes and some confraternities. The most significant pieces owned by these institutions and others from the Museum’s own permanent collection can be seen in this room and in the next one, which is a vault. The first showcase on the right side displays the three large parish monstrances that once had a processional character: that of the parish of San Sebastián, made in 1636 by the silversmith Salvador Noriega in gilded silver with enamels and precious stones; that of San Pedro, attributed to Juan de Luna, contemporary to the previous one and made in gilded bronze and enamels; and that of San Juan, attributed to Salvador de Argüeta and dated 1714, in silver in its color and gilded. In this same display we can see the pair of silver-gilt cope holders made by the silversmith Juan Bautista de Herrera in 1617 and the pitcher of spout or ewer from around 1625-1630, belonging to the treasury of the Collegiate Church.

The following showcase displays the complete set of the main altar of the municipal temple of San Juan de Dios, all in silver in its color. Specifically, it is an altar cross and six candlesticks made by the silversmith Pedro de Campos in 1784; two sacras by Antonio López from 1780; two silver lecterns by Antonio Ruiz el Viejo; and an acetre from 1787 by Diego Ruiz González. This important ensemble is part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

A piece of great singularity, which is exhibited in a pending display case, is the embossed silver crescent of the Virgin of the Rosary of Santo Domingo, by the Granada silversmith Vicente Ruiz Velázquez, from 1759.
In the first display case on the left side we can contemplate three important processional crosses. There are two from the parish of San Sebastián, one carved in gilded silver and enamel from around 1620, attributed to Juan Jacinto Vázquez de Herrera; and another from around 1650, simpler and of anonymous author. The third, which is anonymous and around 1630, belonged to the parishes of San Sebastian and Carmen, successively, being sold by a parish priest and subsequently acquired by the City Council in the antiques trade in Madrid quite a few years ago.

The next display case shows two identical Mexican trays, from the middle of the 18th century; two lecterns by the Antequera silversmith José Ruiz, from around 1758, depicting the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin and the martio of Sante Eufemia in the Plaza de San Sebastián; and a pair of voting cups, made by Juan de Gálvez around 1760 for the town councils of the Collegiate Church.

In the last showcase of this side are exhibited two lecterns and two sacral of around 1795, in white silver in its color, belonging to the Confraternity of the Rosary of the church of Santo Domingo.

The abundance of pieces exhibited with the Antequera mark is due to the importance of the silversmith workshops in the city, which had a College-Congregation of Silversmiths (1782-1833).
Before accessing the next room or vault we must stop at an interesting oil painting on panel, from the late seventeenth century, which represents the image of the patron saint of the church of Santa Maria de Jesus (Portichuelo). The Virgin is depicted as if she were a Spanish queen of the time, bejeweled and dressed in a white tunic and mantle, but all covered with gold, pearls and rhinestones, in the manner of an Austrian court costume.

Room XIV: Eucharistic silverware and Marian jewelry (16th-19th centuries)

From the very moment we enter this room, built as a vault, we have the feeling of being in a very special enclosure. Immediately we know that in its long display case is kept one of the greatest treasures of the city: the Marian jewelry and the most beautiful pieces of Eucharistic silverware. Starting the visual tour from the left we can admire: a chalice with gothic apple of the XV century; a ciborium or pyx of about 1550 of plateresque style; two renaissance chalices, one of the silversmith Juan de Murcia of 1567 and another contemporary attributed to Hernando de Ballesteros; two chalices with enamels of the so-called ‘limosneros’, one from around 1630 and the other around 1698; a Rococo style chalice, anonymous from Barcelona from around 1770-1785; a gallonado ciborium from the end of the 18th century; and a chalice by the Cadiz silversmith Manuel González de Rojas from around 1850. Next, a collection of pieces belonging to the jewel of the Virgen de los Remedios, Patron Saint of the city, is exhibited, in which the magnificent gold rosette with emeralds, diamonds and enameled flowers from the late seventeenth century stands out, as well as the gold crowns, pearls and stones of the Virgin and Child, commissioned in 1922 for her Canonical Coronation.
Among the jewels of civilian origin donated to the Virgin stand out an Encomienda de San Juan, in gold, emeralds and enamel from the first quarter of the XVII century; an oval medallion with the anagram of Mary, in cast gold and keystones from the first third of the XVII century; a breastplate with scrapers in gold, emeralds and enamels from the end of the XVII century; and, from around 1770, the double-headed eagle breastplate in gold and emeralds.

The front of the showcase is completely occupied by the jewel of the Virgin of the Rosary from the church of Santo Domingo. First we see the 18th century crowns of gilded silver, enriched with rhinestones, of the Virgin and Child. Among the jewels that were originally used for civilian purposes, it is worth mentioning the pinjante of the eagle in gold and emeralds from the end of the 16th century, possibly made in the Viceroyalty of Peru; a pinjante with a representation of a mermaid made in the second half of the 17th century in cast gold, chiseled and enameled; the medal of the Conception in gold, enamel, pearls and harpsichord from around 1625. Other jewels of great interest are an Encomienda de Calatrava in gold, enamels, diamonds and emeralds from around 1650; a breastplate with enameled flowers in gold and emeralds from around 1690; and a three-piece neck ribbon in gold and emeralds from the last quarter of the 17th century. From the extensive collection of rosaries, several from the XVII and XVIII centuries are displayed.

The right side begins with the jewel of the Virgen de la Salud from the parish church of Santiago. Its most unique pieces are a chest rose in gold filigree and pearls; a chest jewel with double window in gold, pearls, glass and painted paper from around 1675; and the set of gold and emerald rings from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Next, the exceptional set of sterling gold of the Collegiate Church, composed of chalice, cruets, bell and jars, all carved between 1793 and 1796 by the silversmiths Francisco Martínez de Valdivia and Francisco González, are exhibited. These pieces were donated to the Collegiate Church of San Sebastian by the bishop of Malaga Manuel Ferrer y Figueredo (1785-1799). Two other fundamental pieces of the Colegiata’s treasure are the famous rococo portaviático, of sinuous and broken forms, by the Antequera silversmith Félix Gálvez, from around 1777, as well as the precious ciborium from 1769 by the Cordovan Antonio Ruiz Lara, in gilded, cast, relieved and chiseled silver, in which the numerous figures of angels and cherubs in lost wax stand out.

Room XV: Baroque Painting. Bocanegra, Van de Pere and Correa

If in the two previous rooms the visitor was surprised by the artistic and material richness of the objects, in this one, apart from its very large dimensions, the important collection of baroque painting from the 17th century that is exhibited in the best conditions of space and illumination is striking. Walking through the room counterclockwise, we first find an interesting collection of works by the Granada painter Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra (1638-1689), who was a disciple of Alonso Cano.

First we can see the canvas, full of color and Canesque suggestions, of the Virgin and Child, which has been erroneously called the Virgin of the Rosary; and then the painting of the Immaculate Conception, in an iconography closer to the Sevillian models, with the crossed noses on the chest and the blue mantle unfolded in the air.

In the canvas of the Virgin and Child adored by the little shepherds, in landscape format and with half-length figures, Bocanegra once again uses the master’s models for the sacred characters and resorts to Murillo’s naturalism for the swains who look with a certain impudence at the spectator. The figure of the shepherdess, with blonde hair and delicate profile, contrasts with the previous ones in an intentional way.

Two canvases of identical format belong to a series dedicated to the life of St. Francis: The Death of St. Francis and St. Francis on his way to Mount Albernia. Acquired by the Museum in 2005, they may have originally belonged to the disappeared convent of San Diego in the city of Granada. In the second one, apart from the treatment of the landscape, the small figures of the little angels with a Canaesque air, carrying a cross among the sky, stand out. A painting of smaller format and biblical theme, which also reminds us of the work of José Risueño, closes the group of Bocanegra’s works.

The last canvas of this front panel represents the Apparition of the Virgin and Child to San Cayetano, the work of the painter Fernando Farfán, who died in Antequera in the year of the plague epidemic of 1679. Its composition is evidence of the author’s Sevillian training and the influence of Flemish painters.

The important canvas of the Immaculate Conception, signed and dated 1674 by the painter of the Madrid school Antonio Van de Pere (1618-1688), son of the painter Pedro Van de Pere, who was of Flemish origin, presides at the back wall. The mastery of the drawing, the fluency in the resolution of the brushstroke and its chromatic richness make this canvas one of the most outstanding baroque works of all those exhibited in the Museum. It should also be noted how the flesh tones of the figures remind us of Rubens’ baroque style, and how the red frescoes of angels and cherubs are combined with certain touches of gray to enhance their volumes. In the case of the Virgin’s vestments, mention must be made of the wide moving fabrics, resolved with nervous and broken folds. It is, in short, a work painted in the splendid maturity of the artist, when he adopts the taste for a wide palette of colors in the line of Francisco Rizi.

The entire surface of the left side of the room is occupied by most of the canvases of the important pictorial series of the Mexican Juan Correa (1646-1716) dedicated to the Life of the Virgin Mary, a deposit of the parish of San Pedro. It should be clarified that of the total number of paintings, ten are by this author and two by an enigmatic painter who signs as ‘el Mudo Arellano’. The themes, which are displayed in chronological order in terms of the subjects represented, are the Nativity of the Virgin, the Presentation in the Temple, the Incarnation, the Visitation, the Betrothal, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, the Circumcision, the Flight into Egypt, the Dormition, the Assumption into Heaven and the Crowned Immaculate Conception (the latter is moved to the next headwall). The themes of the Circumcision and the Dormition are the work of ‘el Mudo’, correct in terms of their composition taken from some engraving, but poorer in their chromatic range than the rest of the collection. Those belonging to Juan Correa’s brush are more colorful, with a looser brushstroke and even a more cheerful baroque style in keeping with New Spain painting. Next to the last painting in the series hangs the Penitent Saint Jerome, with a spectacular gilded frame of baroque and openwork carvings, which we attribute to the Sevillian painter Sebastián de Llanos Valdés (1605-1677) due to its parallels with the canvas of the same theme in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville.

The shorter headwall, located between the access and exit doors of this room, is occupied by two canvases by an anonymous 17th century artist, with great gifts for pictorial naturalism although with some imperfections as a draughtsman, representing the Death of Saint Dominic of Guzman and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino.

Room XVI and XVII: José María Fernández. Oil and pastel

José María Fernández Rodríguez (1881-1947) was born on Estepa Street in Antequera, into a wealthy family that owned a hardware business. He trained as a painter in Malaga with Joaquin Martinez de la Vega and traveled as a young man to different European capitals where he acquired an extraordinary artistic culture. Apart from his facet as a researcher in the fields of art and history, in which he made fundamental contributions to the knowledge of Antequera’s historical heritage, his pictorial production was very abundant and of great quality. He stood out as a magnificent draftsman, in pencil and pastel, although he also handled the brushes quite fluently in his oil paintings.

The large collection of his works preserved in the museum come from the donation made by the artist to the city of Antequera in his will. For the titles we have followed those proposed by Belén Ruiz in her studies on the author.

The tour of his work begins with a young self-portrait and two portraits of his mother and a drawing of his father.
Then hang on the walls a series of portraits of the rest of the members of his family, in oil, such as Dolores with Chinese doll, Portrait of Rosario with flowers, or Pepe with coat and hat.

The double Portrait of Rosario with fan on a boiler or on a blue background, as if in the first one he wanted to represent the wife with all her vitality and in the second one with the effects of tuberculosis, causes us a certain uneasiness. In all of them Fernández shows a great correction in the drawing, which he adjusts to the maximum, and a chromatic range of great richness. His loose brushstrokes and unfinished backgrounds when it comes to sketches from life for larger portraits speak of his mastery. The rooms are completed with a sample of the different themes that interested the painter throughout his life: themes of local history, Holy Week, urban planning, interior design of buildings, carnival, portraits of characters or the magnificent academic studies of which an important collection is preserved in the museum.

Room XVIII: Jesús Martínez Labrador: Sculpture and Drawing

Jesús Martínez Labrador (Antequera, 1950) is one of those sculptors for whom no material keeps secrets. With anyone he is able to recreate the perfection of the human body transformed into a symphony of movement, strength and verve. All this without renouncing to a personal and unmistakable style that has made him one of the most renowned artists of the province. Most of his sculptures represent figures and parts of the body, since he uses human anatomy as a tool to manifest spirituality. His work is influenced by the neoclassicism of sculptural geniuses such as Rodin, although impregnated with a subtle modernization that reveals a constant regeneration of his conceptual proposal and his interest in the world. The artist’s admiration for culture is manifested in his seven busts of poets of the Generation of ’27, to whom he also pays tribute with the exhibition of some fragments of their works. The poet José Antonio Muñoz Rojas wrote that Jesús Martínez Labrador sings music with his fingers, expressing cry, pain, fear or amazement.

This room gathers in this room part of his work “friends and poets”, as well as some family drawings and other pieces that show the genius of this spectacular sculptor.

Room XIX and XX: Cristóbal Toral

We ended our visit to the Museum in Rooms XIX and XX, located on the third floor of the new extension, dedicated to the painter Cristóbal Toral. This contemporary artist, born in 1940 in Torre-Alhaquirne by chance, although considered antequerano as he was even baptized in the parish of San Pedro in our city, is one of the most prominent representatives of magical hyperrealism among Spanish painters. He began his drawing studies in 1958 at the School of Arts and Crafts of Antequera, then installed in this palace of Nájera, passing the following year to the School of Fine Arts in Seville and later to the School of San Fernando in Madrid, obtaining in 1964 the National End of Career Award. Between 1968 and 1969 he received two scholarships from the Juan March Foundation to further his studies in Spain and New York, where he came into contact with the new realism of American painters. His participation in the Florence Biennial on two occasions (1973 and 1977), obtaining a gold medal, and in the Sao Paulo Biennial (1975) with the Grand Prize, made him internationally known. He has had important individual exhibitions in Madrid, New York, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Paris, Tokyo, etc.

The large format painting entitled D’apres Las Meninas (1975) stands out, a very personal version of the famous original by Velázquez, in which he reproduces in detail the hall of the old Alcázar in Madrid, but replacing the court figures with a large number of suitcases, something that will be a constant in his painting.

From his facet as a sculptor, two bronze originals are exhibited: Embalajes and La llegada, both of small format but full of symbolism related to the journey through life, so present in all the artist’s production.

Toral’s creative world, which almost from the beginning starts from reality as a plastic conception, sinks in a very personal poetics in which the presence of suitcases, weightless apples, the recreation of classics such as Velázquez and Goya, the solitude of women or the trompe l’oeil of the broken canvas, take us to the secret intimacy of the painter; of his world and his concept of space, of reality and of color.

Tab content