The Silversmiths of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of the official silversmiths of the Cathedral of Santiago in the first half of the nineteenth century, who were unknown until now. Our methodology focused on the analysis of the fonts in the Archive of the Cathedral of Santiago and the Historical Archive of the University, contrasted with the relevant bibliography, to rescue the name of the four silversmiths that created new pieces and preserved the silver of the Cathedral in this century. According to this, we were able to compare the information with the one in the second half, much larger and more interesting, certifying the great difference between the first and second part of the century. In the years we have researched, we can prove that the work of the official silversmith of the Cathedral was unstable and they barely created new pieces, a reality in contrast with the great importance that was achieved by the silversmiths on the last decades.