Toledo. Sala Capitular [Chapter House]

Toledo. Sala Capitular [Chapter House] 

John Frederick Lewis, 1836 

Lithograph 

The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the great masterpieces of the High Gothic in Spain and the Chapterhouse is one of the many highlights. Commissioned by Cardinal Cisneros in 1504, the design was entrusted to Enrique Egas (see 4.8) and the very fine painted murals of the life of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ were the work of Juan de Borgoña (fl. 1495-1536). 

Lewis’s lithograph (he prided himself on making his own lithographs) is puzzling in that he only shows the ante chamber and not the Chapterhouse itself. This may have been because he did not have access to the main chamber which we can only glimpse through the ornate square portal made by the Dutch artist Diego Copín in 1510. The main chamber has a very fine coffered artesonado ceiling which we cannot see, and a painted frieze some of which we can just glimpse through the doorway. Also just visible are the archbishop’s throne, carved by Diego Copín in 1514, and some of the double row of portraits of archbishops, from St Eugene to the present day; all those from Eugene to Cisneros are the work of Juan de Borgoña. Lewis must have been drawing these elements from memory because he gives the prelates caps rather than mitres. 

Though it pales by contrast with the sala capitular, the antesala is not without interest. It also has a coffered ceiling, which we cannot see, a Plateresque frieze by Juan de Borgoña and a marble floor which is one of the principal features of Lewis’s drawing. Either side of the room are two large cabinets which are of particular interest: the one on the left is by Gregorio Pardo (1551) and the one on the right by Gregorio López Durango (1780). Both cabinets were removed by the cathedral authorities in February 2025 to reveal further fine paintings by Juan de Borgoña including, behind the Pardo cabinet, the coat of arms of Cardinal Cisneros. 

Much of the detail in this drawing is very sketchy but Lewis, who was well known for his drawings of animals, has included a charming dog perched on a grand chair while the priest sits on a stool beside him. Lewis has dated the plate with his characteristic reverse figure 3.  

Title: Toledo. Sala Capitular. 

Author/Artist: John Frederick Lewis (1804-1876, artist and lithographer). 

Technique and Material: Tinted lithograph on paper. 

Dimensions: 260 x 360 mm (image), 550 x 370 mm (page).  

Published: Plate 24 from John Frederick Lewis, Sketches of Spain and Spanish character made during his tour in that country in the years 1833-4. London: F G Moon and John F Lewis, [1836].  

Date: 1836. 

Marks and Inscriptions: on the plate, bottom left: ‘J.F.Lewis. 1836’; right: ‘Toledo. Casa Capitular’. 

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.