Monument to Mendizábal (Madrid)

A work by José Gragera, commissioned after the death of Mendizábal in 1853, it was cast in bronze by Eck & Durand in Paris.^[1] It arrived to Madrid in 1857.^[2] Following a series of delays regarding the indecision on the location of the monument, works to install it in the Plaza del Progreso started in 1868.^[3] The monument was unveiled on 6 June 1869,^[4] during a ceremony attended by the General Serrano and a small boy, grandson of Mendizábal.^[5]

The politician wore a levite, pants and a gilet, with his left hand performing the hand-in-waistcoat pose.^[4] The prismatic plinth was an austere work lacking in ornamental details and it reportedly lacked an inscription referencing the name of the politician until 1904.^[4][5]

Following the entry of the Francoist troops in Madrid in 1939 towards the end of Spanish Civil War, the monument was toppled from its location.^[6][7] The bronze may have been recast in another monument.^[7] The plaza del Progreso was renamed as "Plaza de Tirso de Molina" and a sculpture of the later figure replaced the original monument in 1943.^[5][8]

• Alpuente, Moncho (16 February 1986). "Tirso de Molina". El País.
• Fraguas, Rafael (12 March 2001). "En busca de la estatua de Juan Álvarez Mendizábal". El País.
• Salvador Prieto, María Socorro (1993–1994). "Precisiones a un monumento escultórico madrileño desaparecido: Mendizábal". Anales de historia del arte. 4. Madrid: Ediciones Complutense: 505–512. ISSN 0214-6452.