The drawing for the altarpiece of Santa Eulalia de las Dorigas, in Asturias: classicist wooden architecture for a rural parish

Abstract

The drawing for the altarpiece of the Asturian parish church of Santa Eulalia de las Dorigas, in the municipality of Salas, unpublished until now, is a representative design of the classicist altarpiece of the 17th century. The commissioner of the work was Fernando García de Dóriga, who entrusted the execution to the local carver Bernabé Álvarez at the beginning of the century. The authorship of the drawing remains unknown, although its schemes allow it to be related to works by Juan de Medina Cerón, a relevant figure in Asturian sculptural activity. The project follows the trail of important classicist works from the mid-16th century, evokes Serlian solutions, and its approaches will persist in the region well into the second half of the 17th century.