Chapel of Saint Joseph (Capilla de San José) – of Saint John the Baptist (San Juan de la Palma)

The construction of this chapel should be associated with the phase of renovation undertaken in the church at the expense of Fernando José de Espinosa y Maldonado de Saavedra, Count of the Eagle between 1719 and 1724.

Although it presents no especially distinctive architectural features, a pair of oculi opening onto the square allow natural light to enter the space.

The chapel is dominated by a Neoclassical altarpiece which appears to follow designs associated with Manuel Barrera y Carmona. At its center stands an image of Saint Joseph (San José), which may date from the late seventeenth century or the early eighteenth century.

This chapel preserves the richest mural paintings in the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist. Datable to the first half of the eighteenth century, they display clear affinities with other contemporary decorative schemes, particularly in their ornamental system and in the use of historiated cartouches, comparable to those found in Saint Louis of the French (San Luis de los Franceses) or Saint Nicholas of Bari (San Nicolás de Bari). In this case, two episodes from the life of Saint Christina (Santa Cristina) are depicted.

The representation of a female saint in monastic habit (Santa monja) is the only image that has remained unaltered within the altarpiece. It consists of a medium-relief medallion representing the figure bust-length, with her head raised. According to specialists such as José María Escudero, it appears to be the work of Blas Molner.

The chapel also preserves two large corbels, together with an eighteenth-century image of Saint John Nepomucene (San Juan Nepomuceno), currently in a poor state of conservation, as well as the original grille, featuring a lamb at the central keystone and retaining an aqua-green tone on its painted wood.