The _reja_ of the Capilla Mayor of Toledo Cathedral is twenty-one feet high by forty-six in breadth. "Armies of workmen," wrote Méndez Silva, referring to this screen and to its neighbour, that of the _coro_, "were toiling at them for ten years, nor would their cost have been greater had they been of founded silver." The cost of which he speaks was more than a quarter of a million _reales_, although the workmen's daily wage was only two _reales_ and a half, or, in the case of the particularly skilled, four _reales_.
The author of this admirable screen was Francisco de Villalpando, whose plans and estimate were approved by Cardinal Tavera in 1540. "The _reja_ consists of two tiers resting on different kinds of marble. Attic columns ornamented with handsome _rilievi_ and terminated by bronze caryatides, divide these tiers into several spaces. The upper tier is formed by seven columns of ornate pattern, containing, on a frieze of complicated tracery, figures of animals and angels, and other delicately drawn and executed objects in relief. Upon the cornice are coats of arms, angels, and other decoration; and in the centre, the imperial arms of Charles the Fifth, together with a large crucifix pendent from a massive gilded chain. On the frieze of the second tier are the words, ADORATE DOMINUM IN ATRIO SANCTO EJUS KALENDAS APRILIS 1548, and on the inner side, PLUS ULTRA." [74]
[74] Rosell y Torres; _La Reja de la Capilla del Condestable en la Catedral de Burgos_, published in the _Museo Español de Antigüedades_.
[Illustration: XXIII _REJA_ OF CHAPEL ROYAL (_Granada Cathedral_)]
The other of the larger _rejas_ in this temple--that of the choir--is not inferior in a great degree to Villalpando's masterpiece. It was made by "Maestre" Domingo (de Céspedes),[75] who, in his estimate of June 18th, 1540, engaged to finish it at a total cost of 5000 ducats, "he to be given the necessary gold and silver for the plating" (_Archives of Toledo Cathedral_, quoted by Rosell). This Maestre Domingo was aided by his son-in-law, Fernando Bravo, and both of them, says de la Rada y Delgado, were probably natives of Toledo.[76] In the same city they also made the _rejas_ for the Baptismal Chapel, and for the chapels of the Reyes Viejos and Reyes Nuevos.