Monument to Eloy Gonzalo

The Monument to Eloy Gonzalo is an instance of public art in Madrid, Spain. It is a monument dedicated to Eloy Gonzalo, the so-called Hero of Cascorro. Erected on the plaza de Cascorro, it consists of a bronze statue of the aforementioned Cuban War hero authored by Aniceto Marinas, put on a stone plinth.

History and description

It is a monument dedicated to Eloy Gonzalo a Spanish soldier in the Cuban War independence who, in September 1896—during a siege by a party of about 2,500 Cuban mambises equipped with 70 mm battalion guns on a small regiment of Spanish soldiers garrisoned in the small village of Cascorro— reportedly volunteered to his superiors in a nearly suicidal mission to infiltrate the enemy lines and fire the hut used as a warehouse for the weaponry of the enemy. Reportedly equipped with a 10-liter gasoline can, a Mauser rifle, a torch and a rope (to tie himself allowing for the retrieval of his corpse in case he fell in action, as he was certain of) he succeeded against all odds, helping to demoralize the enemy until the lift of the siege by General Adolfo Jiménez Castellanos, only to die of dysentery in Matanzas in June 1897.

The bronze statue designed by Aniceto Marinas (cast in Barcelona at Masriera y Campins' foundry) represents a 2.30 metre full-body Eloy Gonzalo wearing the rayadillo uniform characteristic of the Spanish soldiers during the conflict, strapped at chest height by a rope, wielding a flaming torch with his right hand while he holds the oil can with his left arm, also carrying a rifle and a machete. The plinth, made of marble and white stone, was designed by José López Sallaberry.

The opposing sides of the pedestal feature two inscriptions reading "el ayuntamiento de madrid a eloy gonzalo, 1901" (the Ayuntamiento de Madrid to Eloy Gonzalo, 1901") and cascorro 1897, respectively.

It was unveiled at its original location at the Plaza de Cascorro—mentioned at the time as Plaza del Rastro—on 5 June 1902, matching it with the inauguration of a number of outdoor sculptures in Madrid on the occasion of the celebrations for the coming of age of King Alfonso XIII (delayed several times by bad weather), featuring notable figures such as Bravo Murillo, Agustín Argüelles, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, and Goya.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Pando Despierto, Juan (1998). "Cascorro, 'hombre' y estatua" (PDF). Anales del Museo de América. 6: 49–58. ISSN 1133-8741 – via Dialnet.
• Portela Sandoval, Francisco José (1997). "La marina y el 98, en la escultura española" (PDF). Cuadernos Monográficos del Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval (30). Madrid – via Ministerio de Defensa.
• Salvador Prieto, María del Socorro (1989). "Monumentos escultóricos erigidos en Madrid para celebrar la coronación de Alfonso XIII". Anales de Historia del Arte (1). Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid: 305–316. ISSN 0214-6452.