Heaven Painted on Stone
In the north-eastern corner of the Cloister stands the Chapel of Saint Blaise, commissioned from 1397 onwards by Archbishop Pedro Tenorio as his burial place.
Centralised in plan and covered by an octopartite vault whose ribs rest upon sculpted corbels, the chapel is accessed through a Gothic pointed-arch doorway. Its archivolts, decorated with vegetal motifs, support a delicate sculptural group of the Annunciation carved by Ferrán González.
The same master sculpted the alabaster tombs of Pedro Tenorio and of his counsellor Vicente Arias de Balboa, Bishop of Plasencia, placed at the centre of the chapel with the serenity and refinement characteristic of the finest Toledan Gothic.
The true treasure of this space lies in its mural paintings, executed around 1400, which entirely cover the walls with an extensive iconographic programme devoted to the Creed and the Last Judgement. Scenes include the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Shepherds, Christ before Caiaphas, the Crucifixion, the Ascension, Pentecost and the Resurrection of the Flesh, alongside episodes from the lives of Saint Anthony, Saint Blaise and the miracles of Saint Peter.
Recently restored, these murals are among the most important works of Hispano-International Gothic. Their style reveals the influence of the Italian Trecento, inspired by Giotto and his Florentine circle: narrative gains movement, faces acquire emotion, and light begins to shape space.
The painters Gerardo Starnina and Nicolás de Antonio, documented in Toledo at this time, are thought to have been their creators or principal sources of inspiration.
The Chapel of Saint Blaise is a painted catechism — a heaven narrated through pigment. Where Giotto humanised faith, Toledo clothed it in eternity.
