The Benavente Chapel at Medina de Rioseco

One of the most fascinating aspects of P�rez Villaamil’s oeuvre is his monumental interiors, of which he was a master in his day. He set a fashion for this genre, which was popular with his bourgeois clientele. Seduced by the roaming spirit of the European Romantic painters which he learned from his master, David Roberts, and in keeping with the Romantic zeal for rediscovering monumental testaments to the past with a concern for both documentary and picturesque aspects, Villaamil travelled around Spain recording everything interesting he found in drawings and sketches. His findings were later incorporated – as in this case – into studio paintings.

Known as the “Sistine Chapel of Valladolid” for its decoration, this chapel, one of the most outstanding examples of 16th-century Castilian religious architecture, was built at the behest of the money changer �lvaro de Benavente by the architect Juan del Corral and his brother the sculptor Jer�nimo del Corral. The building work began on 21 March 1544 and was completed two years later. The overwhelmingly profuse decoration, which completely covers the chapel, must have dazzled P�rez Villaamil, who attempted to capture its ornamental richness in this view of the entrance from the apse.