Tomb of the Iñiguez family

Tomb of the Iñiguez family

The most outstanding work in the Chapel of Saint Anne is the tomb in the south wall, which belonged to a member of the Iñiguez family. It is set into the wall in the form of a tomb recess, although in reality this was not its original location. It was specifically located in the centre of the chapel until 1759, when José Manuel de Esquibel y Ribas, Marquis of Legarda and Viscount of Ambite, requested from the parish council the possibility of moving the tomb to the wall adjoining the Chapel of Saint James. The request was granted because there was no other tomb in that wall.

It was originally a sepulchral bed supported by six lions. The sarcophagus bears two coats of arms of the Iñiguez family separated by vertical bands. The deceased rests on a bed with a cushion to accommodate his head and a sheet for the sepulchral bed. He is depicted as a knight, with a long tunic, a cloak fastened by a toggle and gloves in his hand. He has an angular face with a straight forehead, large, closed eyes, a long beard and curly hair. The deceased is accompanied by three small angels, two at the head and one with a censer in the middle of the tomb bed. The work is in line with the Castilian model found in the tombs of the Vasterra family, although it is somewhat more naturalistic, with more plastic, less geometrical forms, most likely chronologically dating it back to the 14th century.