Diego de Castilla
Diego de Castilla (1510/15-1584) was a Spanish cleric who served as dean of Toledo Cathedral. He was a patron of the painter El Greco.
Family
[edit]Castilla inherited the position of dean of Toledo on the death of his father in 1545. Castilla was of Jewish blood, and this became a major issue for him in 1547, when Juan Martínez Silíceo the archbishop of Toledo, passed a statute of cleanliness of blood, excluding from ecclesiastical office and benefices anyone with a trace of Jewish lineage over four generations. Therefore, Castilla developed an obsession for genealogy, working tirelessly to prove his family's links to Spain's medieval kings.[1]
Patron of the arts
[edit]On 2 July 1577, El Greco was formally engaged by Diego de Castilla to paint three altarpieces for the church of a Cistercian convent, the Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo. The main altarpiece included images of the Assumption of the Virgin and The Trinity, subjects of central theological importance.[2] Mark Irving regards these commissions as "a public declaration that he, a leading national figure in the battle against the Protestant heresy, could be trusted to support the theological argument of the Catholic church".[1]
El Greco also undertook the renowned El Espolio as a commission from Castilla.
References
[edit]- ^ a b M. Irving, How to beat the Spanish Inquisition
- ^ * "High Altar". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
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