Church of Santa Maria la Blanca (Seville)

Between 1642 and 1646 Diego Gómez built the chapel of the sacramental brotherhood on top of a house annexed to the church that functioned as a tavern.

[8] In July 1662, Justino de Neve contracted Juan González to build the church vaults.

He also changed the old stone columns for new ones, made by the stonemason Gabriel de Mena in jasper from the Antequera quarries.

[7][circular reference] The plasterwork of the central vault and the dome were made by Borja and Pedro Roldán.

[9] The reform of the temple in the 17th century was financed by a collection made by the visitor of the archbishopric, Justino de Neve, who was a member of the sacramental brotherhood.

[2] In 1665, on the occasion of the inauguration of the renovated church, Miguel Mañara organized a procession that also celebrated the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

In the superior part, three bodies are distinguished: The first one presents two openings of average point, without any decoration; in the following one the belfry is located, with two openings of average point framed by pilasters and finished off by a broken pediment; finally, a small belfry is located composed by an opening of average point framed by pilasters and crowned by ceramic finishes and a cross-velvet.

Over the last two bays of the central nave, in front of the presbytery, there is a dome on pendentives, illuminated by two lateral oculi.

The entire surface of the vaults, dome, and intrados of the arches are filled with a profuse and volumetric decoration of plasterwork with geometric, vegetal, and figurative motifs, which, together with the mural paintings, which follow the sequence of the plasterwork, give movement to an orthogonal floor plan without dynamism.

At the foot of the Epistle nave is the baptismal chapel, where the stairway leading to the tower and the choir is located.

The Christ of the Mandate was made by Diego García de Santa Ana in wood paste in 1559.

They were plundered by Marshal Soult during the French invasion and, returned to Spain, ended up in the Prado Museum.

[20] In 1657, Canon Justino de Neve, as a visitor of the chapels of the cathedral of Seville, notified the town council that he had collected alms for the construction of a new main altarpiece.

This brotherhood carried out its penitential station with three floats: one of mystery where the passage of the washing of the feet was represented (of which nothing has been preserved); the float of the Christ of the Mandate, which processed on a carved cliff; and the Virgin of the Pópulo, which came out with a blue velvet canopy supported by ten rods.

The plasterwork on the ceiling of the church
Floor plan of the church
Virgin of the Snows