Ginés Donaire I Jaén, (EFE).- The work ‘In Ezechielem explanationes’ (‘The comments on the prophet Ezequiel’), one of the most fascinating books of the Spanish Golden Age, is the main attraction of the exhibition ‘The Temple of Solomon according to Prado and Villalpando. Jerusalem imagined from the Andalusian Renaissance’.
The exhibition can be visited until June 30 in the exhibition hall of the Old School of Teaching in Jaén.
The exhibition is carried out thanks to the collaboration with the University of Granada, whose Library is the one that houses the books of this project, the work of the Andalusian Jesuits Jerónimo de Prado (Baeza, Jaén, 1547 – Rome, 1595) and Juan Bautista Villalpando ( Córdoba, 1552 – Rome, 1608).
The curator of the exhibition, Luis Rueda Galán, has assured EFE that this is “one of the most singular works of all the artistic literature of the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque”.
The Baezan theologian Jerónimo de Prado, professor of the University of Baeza, and Juan Bautista Villalpando, Cordovan architect and mathematician and disciple of Juan de Herrera, are the authors of the work ‘In Ezechielem explanationes’.
The two Andalusian Jesuits decided in 1580 to undertake the task of restoring the image of the temple of King Solomon -a mythical building in the three great monotheistic religions and destroyed in the time of Emperor Titus-, using as a guide the description offered by the book of Ezequiel of the Bible.
Trip to Rome
For this, the support of Felipe II was crucial. “The king, fascinated with the idea of rebuilding the Temple of Solomon and interested in the parallels it established with his project for El Escorial, decided to finance it, getting involved, even personally, so that it could go ahead,” explains Luis Rueda.
To do this, Villalpando traveled to Rome in charge of the royal treasury in 1590, with the task of managing the publication of the work, where, in addition, he would gain the personal and financial support of Pope Clement VIII.
The work, which combines theology, art and mathematics in almost equal parts, was quickly received by the international intellectual community. “His influence would be felt throughout the European Baroque and in different fields of knowledge”, underlines the curator of the exhibition.
Architects like Borromini and Íñigo Jones, or painters of the stature of Nicolas Poussin or Philippe de Champaigne were fascinated by the architectural ideas and the erudition of the images of the work of the Andalusian Jesuits.
In addition, the numerous ideas that Villalpando puts into the book on mathematics and physics influenced the work of some of the most important mathematicians and astronomers of the Modern Age such as Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Marin Mersenne or Christoph Clavius.
Baeza Cathedral
The two authors keep a close link with humanism and the Renaissance in the province of Jaén. Prado was a Baezano who studied at his University, where he would come to occupy the Chair of Holy Scriptures, later teaching at the Jesuit College of Córdoba.
Villalpando, during his time in Jaén, and due to the commitment of his bishop Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza, would be the author of the designs for the completion of the Cathedral of Baeza, in addition to contributing ideas that would be decisive for the continuation of the Cathedral of Jaén to the Vandelvira’s death.
“Once again we want to vindicate great figures from our province who, on many occasions, do not receive the consideration they should, such as Pardo and Villalpando,” said the rector of the University of Jaén (UJA), Juan Gómez.
Parallel to the exhibition, a program will be developed with guided tours by the curator and by students of the UJA Master’s in Heritage and Spanish Art, as well as dramatized or scape room tours. EFE