La Compania church
 The
Jesuit began work on their church in Quito in 1605. The co-ad-jutor
Marcos Guerra arrived in the city about 1613, and the had been a
brillant architect in Naples, before joining the Order. He corrected
mistakes what had so far been done, and gave the final overall shape to
the construction.
When died in 1668, the church and neighboring
buildings, including the three cloisters, were it all intents and
purposes finished. Work began on the facade in 1772, and was not
finished until 1765, on the eve of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the
Spanish dominions. The facade is a marvel of the American barroque and
plateresque styles. Six columns of Salomon flank the main entrance, and
this was the first time that these pillars had been incorporated into
American architectural styling.
Corinthian pillars stand by the side doors. Below
them is a stylebato, with carved Renaissance panels. suns
and leaves decorate the frieze, and the cornice appears to be supported
by acanthus leaves. The cornice takes on the form of an arch over the
main door, and contains a niche with a statue of the Virgin, surrounded
by cherubim and angels. the second part, finely ornamented in the
plateresque style, is formed by two columns, leaving space for enormous
windows un the center and the votive inscription to Loyola.
The
admirable harmony of columns and frieze, of sculptures and moldings,
panels and symbolic panoply, so richly carven and at the same time so
exact rises to a semicircular top whit the sign of the eucharist. On
entering the temple one is dazzled bye the marvelous harmony of baroque
richness and balance, all in gold. |
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 Beautiful
decoration abounds, covering every inch of the altar-pieces, the
chapels, the columns and the dome of the transept, the choir and the
tribunes. The altar-piece of the main altar, by Legarda,
restates the pillars of Solomon as the main theme of composition. We
have already seen them on the facade, and here they form a dazzling
display as they curve into an arch and are crowned with a diadem held by
angels. There are four niches, which house polychromed statues of the
founders of the four great religious orders. Among them St. Francis and
St. Ignatius Loyola, in the unmistakable style of Legarda.
On either side of the presbytery, and on the side
walls of the transept, next to it, are admirable carvings. The pillars
of the central nave are decorated all over with one of most important
series of colonial painting from Quito: the series of the prophets,
attributed to Goribar. The colors of Quito shine through the landscape
and background behind the noble representation of each character, with
the careful detailed treatment of tunic and mantle.
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