NIEVES RAVELO

Continuing our visit, we come to the Nieves-Ravelo Chapel, also known as the Carmen Chapel.

Captain Juan de las Nieves Ravelo, buried at the foot of this Baroque altarpiece, sponsored its construction. It was made by a follower of the prestigious master Antonio Álvarez in the second half of the 17th century, who can be considered the successor to Orbarán's work.

It has two floors and three sections.

The first section is divided into three niches flanked by finely carved columns.

In these three niches we find:

In the central niche, a carving of the Virgin of Carmen by the Murcian sculptor Jesús Hernández, donated to this chapel in 2008.

In the left niche, a carving of Saint Gemma Galgani, venerated in this temple since 1995.

In the right niche, an Austrian image of Saint Roch, dating from 1998.

The second section contains three oil paintings on canvas distributed as follows:

The central one is a large painting of the Souls, presided over by the Archangel Saint Michael, with the Virgin of Carmen on his right and Saint Francis of Assisi on his left, all of them above the Souls in Purgatory. It is attributed to the Orotava painter Gaspar Afonso de Quevedo, born in 1616.

The two paintings on the side aisles depict two Franciscan saints, Saint Peter of Alcántara (left) and Saint Francis of Assisi (right). 

They are believed to have been painted by Cristóbal Hernández de Quintana, a painter from La Orotava, between 1684 and 1687.

On the door of the tabernacle there is a bas-relief depicting Christ holding the globe in one hand and giving a blessing with the other. 

The altar has a Rococo-style front. The predella features two coats of arms, one of which, on the left, is that of the Nieves Ravelo family.