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The funerary chapel of Contador Saldaña in the convent of Santa Clara de Tordesillas near Valladolid has been described as one of the ‘purest’ manifestations of Burgundian influence in Castile. In contrast to the brick and stucco buildings which surround it, the Saldaña Chapel is built out of limestone with tall lancet windows. Started in 1430, it includes some of the earliest examples of flamboyant tracery and shield-bearing angels in Castile, and its carved retable with folding wings was almost certainly the kingdom’s first. The chapel’s founder, Fernán López de Saldaña (c.1400–1456), was a converso, the son of a converted Jew, who rose to power meteorically at the court of the Trastámara king Juan II of Castile. This article considers the circumstances behind Saldaña’s innovative choices, suggesting that he used architecture, sculpture and painting to fashion his own origins into a new, noble identity, and that his beliefs as a converso provide a key to understanding his patronage.
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