The Renaissance, as an artistic and cultural style, is the most brilliant of the historical period of the Modern Age for Jaén. Chronologically it comprises almost the entire 16th century (from 1520 approx.) And a large part of the 17th century, although the central decades of the Five Hundred are those that mark the splendor.

The causes or reasons for such a manifestation must be sought in the powerful urban development of the territory of the old kingdom and diocese of Jaén, which at the end of that century had three cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants: Jaén, Baeza and Úbeda; two with just over 10,000: Andujar and Alcalá la Real with Castillo de Locubín, and close to that amount: Cazorla, Martos and Alcaudete; figures that for the time supposed to be among the first thirty cities of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, another eight nuclei moved around 5,000 inhabitants, which ensured a population density of 20 h / km2, the highest in the Tagus to the south. Jaén knew, on the other hand, a colonization program through a series of new towns to the south and east of the city of Jaén: Mancha Real, Los Villares, Valdepeñas and Campillo de Arenas.

Behind this population density is first of all agricultural and livestock wealth, especially for the cultivation of cereals, and that despite the ups and downs of the weather, provided long periods of high production. Then came the handicraft activities, among which the cloth textile sector stood out, in which Baeza and Beas stood out, and to a lesser extent the silk mills around the plains of Jaén; pottery and construction, more widespread on the provincial map. Finally, and as a consequence of the above factors, the development of trade and professional services, so that crafts and services would come to represent approximately half of the labor occupation compared to the other half monopolized by agriculture.

A fundamental motive in the configuration of cities and towns, as well as in their cultural flourishing, was the role played by the higher social classes: nobility and clergy. Among the first, the nobility of privilege stood out, arising from the services to the administration, occupying an outstanding place the Cobos Molina family, from Úbeda, which had two of its members as Royal Secretaries: Francisco de los Cobos, Secretary of the Emperor Carlos V, and his nephew, Juan Vázquez de Molina, in the service of Felipe II. A member of the family was also Diego de los Cobos, bishop of Jaén. Other emuli among the nobility would be the Benavides, in Baeza, and the Messia-Fonseca, lords of La Guardia. But behind, other wealthy hidalgos. With or without public office, and rich landowners joined with religious foundations and their own houses to enrich the artistic heritage of Jaen.

The clergy contributed, apart from material wealth in cases, an intellectual preparation that led several of them to carry out positions of responsibility in the Vatican, becoming privileged intermediaries for the dissemination of the tastes and language of Classicism and Humanism in Jaén . Here we should highlight Rodrigo López, notary with Paulo III, founder of the University of Baeza, and the Jaenero A. Gutiérrez Doncel, with the same position, but prior to López, founder of the Sacred Chapel in San Andrés de Jaén, and the that he was bishop of Jaén, the Erasmian Esteban Merino. In Rome, Alfonso Chacón would also shine for his theological and antiquarian knowledge. Renowned biblical theologians and exegetes were, Fray Domingo de Valtanás and Jerónimo del Prado and bishops, such as Gaspar de Avalos from Segura. In turn, Jaén had prelates at the head of his diocese distinguished by their political representation near the Court and by intellectual stature, such as the aforementioned Merino, Francisco Mendoza, Francisco Delgado or Francisco de Sarmiento.

The result of all this will be the creation of cultural centers of the importance of the University of Baeza (1542), which would play a very active role in the second half of the century as a focus of reformist thought around Blessed Juan de Ávila and Diego Pérez de Valdivia, in a climate enriched by the presence of the doctor and humanist Juan Huarte de San Juan, who published his famous Examination of Ingenios in Baeza ... It must also be said that the printing press in Baeza will play a decisive role from 1568 on. that of Juan Bautista Montoya was installed, followed later by other members of the family, and at the beginning of the 17th century with the presence of another family of printers, the Cuesta. Meanwhile, in Jaén the University Study of Santa Catalina continued its higher educational work, founded by the Dominicans in the 14th century.

The public powers also contributed to the renovation of the urban scene, first with the construction of the headquarters of their power: Town Halls, Corregimiento houses and prisons, among which those of Baeza, Úbeda, Martos, Andújar or Torredonjimeno and the disappeared of Linares and Jaén; Positos, warehouses for the regulation of the grain; Alhóndigas or bridges include other decisive works in that sense.

But it will be the Church through a systematic renovation plan of parish temples and especially the two cathedrals of the diocese, Baeza and Jaén, which, due to their monumental value, become standard-bearers of the most genuine language of the Renaissance, along with the construction of sumptuous houses. -palacios of the nobility and nobility, in architecture, which like no other manifestation will seal the Renaissance imprint of Jaén, giving rise to a grown workshop of master stonemasons with very prominent names, which go beyond the provincial limits, such as the Castillo, Martínez de Aranda, Lechuga and above all, the Vandelvira, Andrés and their son Alonso, mainly. Alongside architecture, movable art runs in parallel, giving meaning to many of the interior spaces in churches and palaces through paintings, altarpieces and the art of forging, where the ironwork reaches heights of the first magnitude within the national scene. , without forgetting reliefs and free-standing sculptures on the exteriors of these buildings.

In this chapter the artists come mostly from outside of Jaén, brought by their indisputable quality. Italians, like Jacopo Florentino and Julio Aquiles; French, like Esteban Jamete; Portuguese, such as the silversmith Gil Vicente and nationals such as Alonso Berruguete, Pedro Machuca, Juan Ruiz "el Vandalino" or the famous rejero master Bartolomé, originally from Salamanca, but based in Jaén, where he performs most of his work, so He is known as "Bartolomé de Jaén". Next to them we must also put a group of notable artists, sculptors and carvers mainly, such as Juan de Reolid, Luis de Aguilar, Francisco del Castillo "el Mozo", Salvador de Cuellar or Sebastián de Solís and the very famous silversmith, Francisco Merino, without forgetting some greats, who were born in Jaen's land triumphed outside of it, the case of Gaspar Becerra from Baezano, Andrés and Francisco de Ocampo from Cazorle and also sculptors, Pablo de Rojas and Juan Martínez Montañés, natives of Alcalá la Real .

Finally, one should not forget either the importance of the artistic trades related to leather, such as the "cordobanes", highly esteemed as a sumptuous ornament of domestic trousseau and in whose elaboration Jaén, along with Córdoba, stood out.