Geometric Description of the Vaulted Ceilings of the Renaissance Intervention in the Church of Nuestra Señora de Consolación in Cazalla de la Sierra (Seville)

Abstract

The Church of Nuestra Señora de Consolación, located in Cazalla de la Sierra (Seville), was originally built under a Mudejar church configuration in the 14th century. It was transformed during the first half of the 16th century by replacing part of it with Renaissance vaulted ceilings, while preserving the polygonal apse, some sections of the series of arches and the tower, built on one of the towers of the Islamic castle.

This research analyses the geometry of the Renaissance vaulted ceilings which, in previous research, have often been described as spherical surfaces. Carrying out a photogrammetry of the church allowed a more detailed analysis of the geometry, discovering the existence of a differentiated geometry for the vaulted ceilings of the Renaissance intervention. None of these ceilings approached a spherical surface, as is often indicated in much of the consulted bibliography.

The geometric analysis of the vaulted ceilings serves to provide various hypotheses on the possible authorship of their designs, relating them to various stonemasons of the time, among whom are two great Masters: Martín de Gainza and Diego de Riaño. Although it is possible that the designs of the Renaissance work could be attributed to Riaño, upon his death, it was Gainza who took charge of the completion of the works, so the vaulted ceilings were completed under his supervision.