Castilian School Following models by ALONSO BERRUGUETE (Padredes de Nava, Palencia, c. 1490 - Toledo, 1561).
"Virgin of Calvary".
Carved, polychromed and gilded wood.
The polychromy is broken and there are flaws in the carving.
Measurements: 76 x 30 x 17 cm.
With her hands joined in front of her waist and an expression of pain on her face, the author recreates the figure of the Virgin. Its slightly curved posture indicates that it probably formed part of a larger sculptural group, specifically a Calvary, as the corporal expression that the carving gives off invites us to think of this iconography where the Virgin, at the foot of the Cross, contemplates her dead son. It is also evident that the work was intended to be viewed from the front, as the back of the sculpture is not worked, so it is likely that the work was originally located on an altar. On the basis of its formal and technical characteristics, the Castilian sculptor Alonso de Berruguete, or his workshop. One of the key figures in Spanish Renaissance imagery, Berruguete was the son of a famous painter, and learned painting and sculpture in the family workshop. From 1507 he remained in Italy to broaden his knowledge of painting, principally in Florence, where he must have arrived around 1512. There he is mentioned several times by Vasari, who notes his contacts with Bramante, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. He was among the Tuscan Mannerists who were disciples of Andrea del Sarto. His long years in Italy allowed him to become deeply acquainted with the masters of the Quattrocento and the models of classical Greco-Latin sculpture; in his work there is a deep admiration for the work of Donatello, who inspired him with certain types, and, of course, Michelangelo, with his emphatic volumes and the tormented "terribilitá" of his final work, the same as we find in this Saint Jerome. From Leonardo da Vinci he learned to individualise the faces, although all the influences converged in a highly personal style and a strongly expressive temperament, which is reflected in his figures with a flaming, angular outline that revives the aesthetic of the Gothic period. In 1523 he took up residence in Valladolid, where he opened his workshop and devoted himself to carving altarpieces and images. One of his first important works in Valladolid was the altarpiece of San Benito, in which his vigorous realism is evident in all its grandeur. In 1539 he began to carve the choir stalls of Toledo Cathedral, another of his masterpieces. His last work was the tomb of Cardinal Tavera in Toledo, which remained unfinished at his death. Berruguete showed signs of formal concerns which, linked to the expressive aesthetics of late Gothic, as we see here, and in continuity with the emotional approaches of Juan de Valmaseda, directed his production towards licentious, radically Mannerist formulas. From a classicist point of view, his sculptures adopt very particular proportions, in some cases misaligned, in favour of dramatic effects, aimed at moving the viewer in a clearly mannerist option, as we can see in this Saint Jerome, twisting the figures to give the impression of being subjected to terrible internal anguish.