Juan de Nates (Nantes or Nattes), Spanish master stonemason and architect. He was the son of Pedro Gomez de Nates, a stonemason, and he learned the trade with his father in Valladolid, where he lived most of his life and where most of his works are recorded.
He was the disciple of Juan de Herrera, and together with Juan Ribero Rada (1540-1600) the largest disseminator of classicism in the northern Spanish Plateau.
In the fa�ade of the church of Santa Cruz, Nates used an unrealised design by Giacomo da Vignola for the mother church of the Jesuit order which he had probably seen in an engraving.
The picture shows the fa�ade of the church.
Although the fa�ade was clearly borrowed from Herrera’s design for the cathedral, the new Baroque principles of style are also apparent here: classical balance has been relinquished in favour of stronger definition and the introduction of a clear hierarchy among the individual elements. Thus, the lower story is exceptionally high and the massive pilasters dominate the fa�ade.
The picture shows the fa�ade of the church.
