As shown in the adjacent photograph, this wrought-iron screen, or reja, was once installed in the central nave of the Cathedral of Valladolid in Spain. The Cathedral was completed in 1668, but the choir screen, the private gift of Isidro Cosío y Bustamante, Bishop of Valladolid, was not put into place until December 7, 1763. Painting and gilding of the screen were completed in the following year. The iron master is believed to have been Rafal Amezúa from Elorrio, Viscaya, whose documented work at the Cathedral of Cuenca shows stylistic similarities to this screen.Screens of the kind were used to close the choir to the public. When the choir at Valladolid was relocated near the main altar in the 1920s, the screen was no longer needed.
