Siloé, Diego de

Siloé, Diego de (b Burgos, c.1495; d Granada, 22 Oct. 1563). Spanish architect and sculptor, one of the leading figures in the transition from Gothic to Renaissance in Spanish art. He was the son of Gil de Siloé (d c.1501), who is of uncertain origin (contemporary references suggest both Orléans and Antwerp as his native city) but who settled in Burgos and is regarded as the outstanding Spanish sculptor of the 15th century and the country's last great representative of the Gothic tradition. Gil's extant work includes two royal tombs (1489–93), both in alabaster, in the monastery of Miraflores, Burgos: the first is of John II of Castile and his wife Isabella of Portugal, the second of their son Prince Alfonso. Diego formed his style in Italy, where he collaborated with Bartolomé Ordóñez. By 1519 he had returned to Burgos, where he carried out several important commissions in the cathedral. They include the impressive alabaster tomb of Bishop Luis de Acuña (1519–20), but his greatest work there is the Escalera Dorada (Golden Stairway) of 1519–23, and it was as an architect rather than as a sculptor that he emerged as one of the great figures of Spanish art. His masterpiece is Granada Cathedral, where he took over as architect in 1528.