Page 166 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

portraits of famous men (Angulo Iniguez 1954, The predella of the Santa Eulalia altarpiece
89-90). includes six half-length Old Testament worthies
In 1483, the year after Federigo da Montefel- by Pedro Berruguete — Jehoshaphat, Solomon,
tro's death, Berruguete was back in Spain, at the Uzziah, Ezra, and Hezekiah, in addition to David.
Cathedral of Toledo, where he is recorded All but Ezra are mentioned in the book of Mat-
throughout the following decade, though little of thew as ancestors of Saint Joseph and so are icono-
his work there remains. After his patron, Arch- graphically appropriate for the altarpiece, which is
bishop Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, died in 1495, dedicated to the life of the Virgin (Post 1947, 86).
Berruguete painted several important works for The degree of idealization in these imaginary por-
Cardinal Tomas de Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor traits reflects Berruguete's Italian experience and
during the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand, includ- somewhat recalls the series of portraits that he
ing the main retablo of the monastery of Santo painted in Urbino. However, it is clear that his
Tomas in Avila and that of the Cathedral of Avila. experience in Italy did not turn Pedro Berruguete
Besides these important commissions, which are into an Italian Renaissance painter. He simply
his masterpieces, Berruguete created altarpieces infused into his native Hispano-Flemish style a
for a number of churches in the areas around greater sense of monumentality and an interest in
Palencia, Burgos, and Segovia. Following Berru- space and perspective. Much more striking in The
guete's death some time before 6 January 1504 Prophet David is Berruguete's masterful handling
(Lainez 1943, 46), his altarpiece for the Cathedral of those elements most characteristic of the His-
of Avila was completed by Juan de Borgona. pano-Flemish style: the dazzling gold brocade, the
The set of paintings in the church of Santa brilliant palette, and the precise rendering of
Eulalia in Berruguete's home town of Paredes de details. King David is not overwhelmed by his rich
Nava, to which this panel belongs, must have been trappings, however; his steady outward gaze con-
one of the earliest commissions he undertook veys both a sense of his magisterial wisdom and a
upon his return to Spain from Italy. Those paint- profound humanity. s.s.
ings are now ensconced in an altarpiece painted by
Pedro's grandson Inocencio Berruguete, in collab- ment." About 1560, Diego de Guevara's son Felipe
oration with another artist, in the mid-sixteenth mentions a portrait of his father by "Michel." It is
century (Post 1947, 85). Despite the considerable certain that this portrait has a pendant, the Virgin
stylistic changes in Spanish art that had occurred and Child with a Bird (Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche
between the 14805 and the 15505, the contract for Kunstsammlungen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
the new altarpiece explicitly required the inclu- 47 Berlin, no. 1722), because the pattern of the ori-
sion of Pedro Berruguete's existing paintings. ental carpet on the parapet on which the Christ
Michel Sittow Child rests exactly matches its continuation in the
Hispano-Flemish, c. 1469-1525 or 1526 foreground of the portrait.
These references are tantalizing, but ultimately
PORTRAIT OF A MAN inconclusive. The portrait could also be of a
(DIEGO DE GUEVARA?) member of the entourage of Catherine of Aragon,
painted when Sittow was in England (National
c. 1515-1518 Gallery 1941,185). The brocaded pattern of the
oil on panel sitter's doublet could allude to the emblem of the
3
^.6x2^.y(i^/4X9 /8)
reference: National Gallery 1941, 185 Order of Calatrava — the cross and fleur-de-lis —
which would suggest that the sitter was a knight
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. of that military and religious order, established in
Mellon Collection the twelfth century. (Ferdinand and Isabella, to
avoid the possible use of the order's resources
Sittow, who worked on the Polyptych Altarpiece against their monarchy, in 1489, with the approval
of Queen Isabella (see cat. 45) with Juan de of the papacy, took over the administration of the
Flandes, was primarily a portrait painter. This Order of Calatrava.)
modest portrait of a middle-aged man wearing a Whoever the subject may have been, Sittow's
fur collar, seen in three-quarter view facing to own accomplishment in this portrait is clear. With
the left, his left hand on the parapet and his right precision and unflinching honesty played off
on his breast, indicates clearly the qualities that against the values of light, shadow and volume, he
earned Sittow his importance in Isabella's has created a likeness that is small in scale but
entourage. monumental in its sobriety and dignity. s.s.
The painting has been tentatively identified as
the portrait of Diego de Guevara, who worked for
the court of Isabella's daughter, Juana "la Loca,"
and her husband Philip the Handsome. An
inventory of 1548 of the estate of the Marquis of
Zenete includes a reference to a diptych with one
panel representing the Virgin and Child and the
other "Don Diego de Guevara with a furred gar-

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 165