Retablo

Photograph by Frantisek Zvardon. All rights reserved.

Installed at the end of the south ambulatory of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is the 17th Century, gilded, black walnut, Spanish Baroque retablo, the Spanish word for "retabl." A retablo is a shelf raised above the back of an altar to support ornaments, pictures, and statues from sacred history.
 
The ornate woodwork can be traced to 1687 when Domingo Angel, a wealthy Burgos silk-manufacturer, had it installed in the chapel attached to the Congregation of Saint Philip Neri, at Ezcaray, Spain. Indications are that it was the work of a single craftsman who began his work in 1608. The chapel was dismantled in 1925, and the retablo was sold to a New York art dealer to raise funds for the impoverished village. It was acquired by Raymond Gould of Pasadena

Shortly after its new owner's death, a group of people purchased the retablo for use in the cathedral then envisioned for Los Angeles on Wilshire Boulevard. However, the retablo was transported to Mission San Fernando and temporarily stored.
On June 18, 1941, the "Excaray Chapel Exhibit" was opened to viewing by the public at San Fernando Mission. In a brochure issued for that occasion, James A. Tierney, the artist who supervised the installation in several rooms of the convento, said that the Excaray items had "found a becoming, if not a permanent home."

In 1953, the retablo, restored by well-known California artist Judy Serbaroli, was installed in the newly-erected student chapel of Queen of Angels Seminary, adjacent to the mission. It remained there until the decision was made to place it in the new Cathedral.

Measuring about twenty-six feet wide and twenty feet high, the elaborately carved, polychrome and gilded retablo depicts a crucifix surrounded by saints, with the Madonna and Child overhead. Four twisted columns, each carved from a single walnut trunk support the upper part of the central retablo. The clusters of grapes surrounding the columns are symbolic of the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Preparation for the installation of the retablo into the Cathedral has been conserved by Griswold & Associates. Technical assistance, research services and $142,500 in financial support were provided by the J. Paul Getty Trust under the direction of Brian Considine, conservator of decorative arts and sculpture at the Getty Museum.

The retablo in the Cathedral serves as a reminder of the great history in the Church of sacred art. As historian Monsignor Francis J. Weber remarks, "It represents a skill of workmanship, a beauty of design, and a lavishness of ornamentation that has passed from the modern scene."