Art and Ritual in Golden Age Spain: Sevillian Confraternities and the Processional Sculpture of Holy Week.

Susan Verdi Webster. Art and Ritual in Golden Age Spain: Sevillian Confraternities and the Processional Sculpture of Holy Week.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. xxi + 298 pp. $55. ISBN: 0-691-04819-3.

The study of Spanish art has been adversely affected by an unwillingness to consider devotional contexts of religious images; this problem has been particularly acute in regard to the processional sculptures studied by Webster. Although these sculptures have been the focus of intense popular devotion, they have been largely ignored by art historians.

In the first chapter, Webster reconstructs the history and characteristics of the confraternities that commissioned the sculptures. The origins of these groups remain obscure because few documents exist before the mid-sixteenth century, when ecclesiastical authorities required detailed Rule Books. Webster deftly explains how these groups emerged out of "a confusingly interconnected web of institutional and historical elements" (18). Through her analysis of diverse topics (including Mendicant Orders, public flagellation, demographics, and commercial activities), she demonstrates just how deeply imbedded confraternities were in the society and culture of Seville. Particular attention is given to the complex relations with Church authorities, who attempted -- often unsuccessfully -- to bring confraternities under their control.

Foreigners, members of racial minorities, and persons with Jewish or Moorish ancestry joined the confraternities in exceptionally large numbers. Thus, Webster proposes that "suspect" people may have regarded confraternities as an effective way to avoid persecution by the Inquisition. The implications of this intriguing theory merit further consideration. Were attempts by authorities to regulate confraternities motivated by concerns about "undesirable" members? How did the desire to secure protection from the Inquisition impact other functions of confraternities?

The second chapter on diverse aspects of sculptures is the longest and most vividly written section. The processional function is shown to have determined such features as human scale, psychological clarity, and multiple viewpoints. Materials and techniques are thoroughly reviewed, as are fees and other requirements of contracts. Because processional images were clothed, bodies were reduced to a framework for garments. Generally, iconography is explained clearly, although differences between two important types of Virgin -- dolorosa and de la Soledad -- remain obscure.

In the third chapter, Webster explains how members contributed to the appearance and functions of the processional sculptures by providing costumes and platforms. Particulary fascinating is the analysis of gender differences in costumes. Both in terms of style and embroidery, garments of Christ came to resemble ecclesiastical vestments. Costumes for the Virgin closely imitated court fashions, and lavish sums were spent on fabrics and jewels for images of her. Thorough attention is given to the impact of the farthingale and other fashions upon the construction and presentation of images.

In the fourth chapter on ritual context, Webster investigates how Holy Week processions in Seville absorbed the functions of religious drama and suggests that the widespread perception of actors as immoral made statues a more effective way to represent holy personages. In analyzing the entourage, Webster clarifies gender divisions among participants.

The fifth chapter explains how processional movement enhanced sculpture through temporal sequencing and other factors. It is proposed that "response mechanisms...culturally encoded" by devotional literature and sermons enabled the faithful in Seville to appreciate the sculptures, which foreigners disdained because they "did not understand the culturally encoded language of religious response" (175). As Webster acknowledges, many of the concepts cited were discussed widely during the Counter Reformation. Thus, one wonders why devotional literature had a distinctive impact in Seville. The number of citations used to demonstrate such relatively straightforward matters as the appropriateness of tears to both penitence and compassion often seems excessive. Even though Juan de Avila opposed the use of any statues other than the Crucified Christ, he is regarded a major source of "cultural codes" that fostered responses to processional sculpture. Also problematic is the discussion of Saint Teresa's insistence that she depended on images for inspiration; this may have been a ploy to defuse investigations of her visions by the Inquisition, rather than a commendation of art.

Despite a few points of disagreement, I found Webster's book to be an impressive scholarly accomplishment. In synthesizing the results of investigations of archives and other primary sources, she provides a solid basis for further work on a neglected field.