Alonso Berruguete
Alonso González de Berruguete (c. 1488 – 1561) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and architect. He is considered to be the most important sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance, and is known for his emotive sculptures depicting religious ecstasy or torment.[1]
Life
Born in the town of Paredes de Nava, Berruguete studied art under the tutelage of his father, the painter Pedro Berruguete. His family, however, chose the law for his profession and obtained for him an official position at Valladolid, the title of which he held for years, probably long after he had devoted himself to art. Following his father's death in 1504, Berruguete travelled to Italy to continue his study of art, spending most of his time in Florence and Rome. It is here that he studied sculpture under the Italian master, Michelangelo. His paintings produced in Italy showed a mannerist influence, with his art being compared with contemporaries such as Jacopo Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino.[1][2] In Florence he was engaged by the nuns of San Geronimo to finish an altarpiece left unfinished at his death by Filippo Lippi.
Berruguete returned to Spain in 1517, and in 1518, was appointed to the position of court painter and sculptor by Charles V of Spain, who gave him much work to do at Madrid, at the Palace of El Pardo, and at the Alhambra. He carved the relief of the Resurrection in Valencia Cathedral. Because he did not follow the emperor to Germany in 1520, however, he received no royal commissions for paintings. From this point in his career forward, Berruguete concentrated primarily on sculpture.[3] In 1519 he collaborated with Felipe Bigarny on the tomb of Cardinal Juan Selvagio in the Church of Santa Engracia de Zaragoza.
Works of his include an altarpiece at the Irish College at Salamanca (1529–1533), choir stalls at the Cathedral of Toledo (1539–1543) and a tomb for the Archbishop of Toledo Juan de Tavera at the hospital that Tavera founded, the hospital of St. John the Baptist in Toledo (1552–1561).[1][2]
Wood sculpture
After his training in Italy he went back to the Spanish tradition of making wood sculptures, which included the altarpieces at the church of San Benito el Real, Valladolid. "The exaggerated movements of his figures became a mannerism with his followers Andrés de Nájera, Esteban Jordán, Inocencio Berruguete and others..."[1]
From October 13, 2019 – February 17, 2020, over 40 of Berruguete's painted wood sculptures were on display in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. as part of an exhibition titled Alonso Berruguette: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain.[4]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Alonso Berruguete — For his mastery of the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, sometimes called the Spanish Michelangelo, b. at Paredes de Nava, in Castile, about 1480; d. at Toledo, 1561. He was the second son of the painter, Pedro Berruguete, who was his first instructor. His family, however, chose the law for his profession and obtained for him an official position at Valladolid, the title of which he held for years, probably long after he had devoted himself to art. It is said that the fame of Michelangelo led him to Italy after his father's death and he entered the school of that great master in Florence and had among his friends Andrea del Sarto and Bandinelli. In the competition with Leonardo he made a copy of Buonarroti's great cartoon of Pisa. Accompanying his master to Rome, where he assisted him in the Vatican, he was one of the sculptors chosen by Bramante to compete in making a copy of the Laocoon to be cast in bronze, Sansovino, however, being the winner. On his return to Florence, he was engaged by the nuns of San Geronimo to finish an altarpiece left unfinished at his death by Filippo Lippi. After a long residence in Italy, Berruguete, in 1520, went back to Spain, where he was greatly honoured by Charles V, who appointed him a chamberlain, and court painter and sculptor, and gave him much work to do at Madrid, at the Palace of El Pardo, and at the Alhambra. With Philip II he continued in favour and became a rich man, married a lady of quality and bought the lordship of Ventosa near Valladolid. After his return to Spain, the artist lived for some time at Saragossa, where he made an altar and a tomb for the church of Santa Engracia. At Valladolid he executed many works for churches and monasteries, notable among which is the high altar of the Church of San Benito el Real, belonging to the convent of the Benedictines, on which he spent six years. Berruguete worked with Filipe de Vigar on the sculptures of the cathedral at Toledo. There also, in the hospital of St. John the Baptist, is one of his finest works, executed when he was nearly eighty years of age, the monument of its founder, the Cardinal Archbishop Juan de Tavera. His best work in painting is considered to be in the cathedral of Palencia and in the church of Ventosa; his best work in bronze and marble in the cathedral and other buildings of Toledo.
Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain (London, 1891); Bryan, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (London and New York, 1903-05).
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Arthur Byne; Mildred Stapley Byne (1917). Spanish Architecture of the Sixteenth Century. G. P. Putnam's sons. pp. 186–.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Sturgis, Russell (1901). A Dictionary of Architecture and Building, Volume I. Macmillan. pp. 296–297.
- Back to citation Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Alonso Berruguete". Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 August 2023
- Back to citation "Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
External links
Media related to Alonso Berruguete at Wikimedia Commons