Aportaciones documentales en torno a los retablos de la Virgen del Tránsito y de las Reliquias de la Catedral de Plasencia

The article provides previously unpublished documentation on two major ensembles of Plasencia’s heritage: the altarpieces of the Virgin of the Assumption (Tránsito) and of the Relics in the cathedral. For the first time, the original contracts for these works are published, signed with Alberto de Churriguera (1725) and the sculptor Carlos Simón de Soria (1746), allowing for a precise understanding of authorship, chronology, and technical conditions. The study includes a stylistic and iconographic analysis of both altarpieces, framing them within the broader context of eighteenth-century Extremaduran sculpture, a period marked by the decline of local workshops and increasing reliance on artistic centers such as Salamanca or Madrid. The altarpiece of the Tránsito is traced back to the arrival of its titular image in 1593, closely connected to relics and devotions transferred from the old cathedral. Special attention is paid to the unusual iconography of the recumbent Virgin, derived from apocryphal texts and represented in a glass urn with angels carved by the Churriguera family. The altarpiece of the Relics, conceived as its symmetrical pair, underscores the cathedral’s unified artistic program. This contribution significantly enriches art historiography, combining archival evidence, formal analysis, and devotional history to consolidate knowledge of two masterpieces of the Spanish Baroque.