Pedro de Berruguete

PEDRO DE BERRUGUETE (Paredes de Nava, Palencia, ca. 1445/50 - Madrid?, 1503).
"The apparition of the angel to St. Joachim".
Oil on gilded panel. Cradled.
Attached report of Doña Isabel Mateo.
Measurements: 126 x 82 cm; 140 x 98 cm (frame).
This panel, attributed to Pedro Berruguete, one of the fundamental masters of the Castilian painting of the 15th century, represents the apocryphal episode in which an angel announces to St. Joachim that his wife, St. Anne, will conceive the Virgin Mary. The scene, infrequent in the western iconographic tradition, underlines the providential dimension of the Marian genealogy and links with the cycles dedicated to the life of the Virgin, particularly widespread in Castile at the end of the Middle Ages, in fact there is a work by Berruguete with a similar theme that was destined for the Altarpiece of Santa Eulalia in Paredes de Nava. Aesthetically the work can be understood as a perfect visual synthesis of Berruguete's painting. First of all, the Flemish heritage can be perceived in the almost tactile meticulousness with which the natural elements are treated: the individualized flock of sheep, the carefully outlined white-haired dog, the trees and the landscape that opens up in depth. The attention to detail and texture, from the folds of St. Joachim's red cloak to the delicacy of the parchment held by the angel, respond to that Nordic tradition mentioned in the text, linked to descriptive precision and a taste for the concrete and observable.

Secondly, the Italian influence, fruit of his stay in Urbino with Federico de Montefeltro, can be seen in the spatial construction. The landscape is organized with a clear sense of depth, through a soft atmospheric perspective and a rational arrangement of space. The figures, especially that of St. Joachim, have a solid and monumental, almost sculptural volumetry, which reveals the knowledge of Renaissance principles. The golden halo, integrated with balance in the composition, and the serenity of the gesture reinforce this classical monumentality. At the same time, the strong Castilian character alluded to in the text is maintained: the figure of the saint transmits a contained and austere spirituality, without excessive dramatism. The scene, although miraculous, is presented with an everyday naturalness.

Documentary news about Berruguete are scarce, a circumstance that has contributed to forge an almost legendary aura around his figure. Of noble origin and considered by Diego Angulo Íñiguez as "the Velázquez of the 15th century", his training must have begun in Castile, in contact with masters familiar with the Nordic and Flemish models. The descriptive precision, the meticulous attention to natural details and the volumetric solidity of his figures clearly refer to that tradition. Later, his stay in Italy, documented from 1477 in the studiolo of Federico de Montefeltro in Urbino, after passing through Rome, enriched his language with the principles of linear perspective and the study of classical monumentality.
The documented works that have come down to us, the main altarpiece of the church of Santa Eulalia de Paredes de Nava (ca. 1490), the mural painting of the exterior of the chapel of San Pedro in the cathedral of Toledo (1497), the main altarpiece of the cathedral of Avila (from 1499, unfinished) and the altarpiece of Guaza de Campos (1501), show a strong eclecticism. In them, the strong and expressive Castilian character, Flemish meticulousness and Italian structural clarity converge in a personal synthesis of remarkable coherence.