Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza lived from 1428-1495, having been appointed the Cardinal Archbishop of Seville in the year 1473. The cardinal was a statesman, lawyer and the chancellor of Castille -- and, of interest perhaps to our American readers, a great advocate of the explorer Christopher Columbus.
Today we are looking at a chasuble that belonged to the cardinal. This chasuble has many of the features we have come to expect from Renaissance vestment work, with the ever popular red velvet of the time, set in combination with gold, and orphreys depicting with figurative images (in this instance angelic beings).
It is also worth pointing out the presence of the cardinal's arms which can be found on the base of the orphrey -- an early example of this type of placement and usage, one that would become the standard ever since.
This, along with the cut of the chasuble itself (which appears to be original and not a later reduction) may well show one of the earliest instances of this type of cut.
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