THE ALTARPIECE OF THE SALDAÑA CHAPEL

BACKGROUND 

The Monastery of Santa Clara was founded in 1363 by Royal Princess Beatriz in the Mudejar-style royal palace that her father, king Pedro I of Castile, had ordered to be built in one of the clauses of his will. Of this original building, the façade, a patio and a bath complex located to the east of the building have survived to the present.

Work on the Gothic-style convent church began in 1373 but was not completed until the XVI century. A splendid mid-XV century framework of Mudejar tracery stands at one end of the presbytery.  

The rectangular-shaped funeral chapel of the Saldaña family gives on to the first two sections of the nave to the south. Work on the chapel was begun by maestro Guillen de Rohan, who died in 1431 and was buried just outside the chapel itself. Bearing in mind different stylistic criteria, it has been suggested that the final responsibility for this work, key in the late Gothic revival in Castile, might well have lain on the shoulders of maestros Ysambart and Pedro Jalopa.