Mermaid (lamp support)
Wrought iron
Polychromed and gilded
Spanish (Castilian)
Sixteenth century
Description
The mermaid (sirena in Spanish) was a common motif in the decorative arts of the Spanish Renaissance. The mermaid was not only a creature of popular myth but also a classical allusion of the type so dear to Renaissance humanists.(For example, take the ancient Greek poem, The Odyssey, in which the hero, Odysseus, has his men lash him to the mast of their ship in order that he can hear the siren's call of the mermaid without being lured to his death.) Ceramics, jewels, silver and goldwork, and decorative bands in wood and metal were adorned with mermaids, in the company of other classical creatures such as harpies, satyrs, and centaurs.
The Society's recent acquisition was one of at least four sixteenth-century lamp supports in the church of Santa María at Tordesillas, near Valladolid in Spain. The mermaids were hung from brackets attached to the top of pillars in the church, with ropes passing through pulleys held between their hands (clasped together as if in prayer). Lamps could then be lit and hoisted via the ropes to give light to the crossing or altar areas. A reconstruction of the church's interior in the Baroque era may have rendered several of the mermaids obsolete only two remain on view in the church itself.
