An etching of the altarpiece of the Virgen de la Antigua by Asensio de Maeda at Seville Cathedral

Según distintos testimonios narrativos la Virgen de la Antigua de la Catedral de Sevilla poseyó un retablo renacentista que debió proyectar el arquitecto Asensio de Maeda a raíz del traslado de la venerada pintura mural en 1578. Gracias a la localización de un grabado conservado en la Fundación Focus-Abengoa de Sevilla podemos conocer la traza de Maeda para dicho retablo, analizarlo dentro del conjunto de su obra, así como apreciar la influencia ejercida en el retablo dieciochesco que finalmente trazó Pedro Duque Cornejo.According to different narrative accounts, the mural painting representing the Virgen de la Antigua at Seville Cathedral was transferred to a Renaissance altarpiece which may have been designed by the architect Asensio de Maeda, due to its relocation in 1578. Thanks to the discovery of an etching kept in the Focus-Abengoa Foundation in Seville, we are now able to know Maeda’s design for the altarpiece, to analyze it within the whole of his work and to appreciate his influence on this eighteenth-century altarpiece which eventually was executed by Pedro Duque Cornejo