Exhibitions

There is a persistent belief that Frederick John Parsons; see L. Dimier: ‘Les 5. Sacrifice of Although only a selection of the Jan was a faithful copyist of nature. Primitifs français, V, Règnes de Charles VII et Isaac, by Alonso could be included, the de Louis XI’, Gazette des beaux-arts 6, no.20 Berruguete. Having developed unequalled powers (1938), pp.81–102, at p.94. It was purchased in 1526–33. range of works Berruguete created 1992 for the Lisbon archive from the dealer of observation and unmatched skills Vasco Teles da Gama. E. Dhanens: Hubert and Polychromed for the retablo was fully represented: in reproducing nature in a completely Jan van Eyck, Antwerp 1980, p.133, did not wood with figures from four of its five levels, one believe that the drawing was a copy after Jan’s gilding, height convincing way, he seems to have lost portrait; but compare K. Bauch: ‘Bildnisse 89 cm. (Museo of the gables, a pair of putto reliefs, concluded that he could distort natural des Jan van Eyck (1961)’, in idem: Studien zur Nacional de a powerfully plastic roundel and one Kunstgeschichte, Berlin 1967, pp.79–122; C. Escultura, appearances for his own purposes. As Sterling: ‘Jan van Eyck avant 1432’, Revue Valladolid; of the painted panels. Also shown mentioned above, he gives the sitters de l’art, 33 (1976), pp.7–82, at pp.33–34; B. exh. Meadows was the Adoration of the Magi from the in his portraits narrow shoulders and Fransen: ‘Jan van Eyck and the portraiture Museum, retablo in Santiago Apóstol, Valladolid, of his predecessors’, in S. Kemperdick and F. SMU, Dallas; short arms. His humans are often Lammertse, eds: exh. cat. The Road to Van photograph of the late 1530s, in which Berruguete’s Eyck, Rotterdam (Museum Boijmans Van far too big for their surroundings Beuningen) 2012, pp.76–79. Javier Muñoz forms become broader and more and he depicts people and angels on 5 G. du Fresne de Beaucourt, ed.: Chronique and Paz Pastor). opulent. His other great installation de Mathieu d’Escouchy (Société de l’Histoire several different scales. In the Ghent de France), Paris 1863–64, II, p.226; repeated in in the choir of , well Annunciation, Gabriel and the Virgin H. Beaune and J.-J. Maulbon d’Arbaumont, eds: illustrated and discussed in an essay Mémoires d’Olivier de La Marche (Société de are contained under an extremely low l’Histoire de France), Paris 1883–88, II, p.372. by Manuel Arias Martínez, can only ceiling, placed there to support the 6 S. Kemperdick: ‘Early texts on some be experienced in situ. prophets and sibyls, who are half the portraits by Jan van Eyck’, in C. Currie et al., Occupying just two rooms, the eds: Van Eyck Studies, Papers Presented at size of the angel and the Virgin. They the Eighteenth Symposium for the Study of display at the National Gallery of Art are smaller than the statues of the two Underdrawing and Technology in Painting, established Berruguete unequivocally Brussels, 19–21 September 2012, Paris, Leuven Sts John, themselves rather smaller and Bristol CT 2017, pp.310–24, at pp.310–13. as one of the sixteenth century’s than the donors, who are slightly 7 M. Martens, T.-H. Borchert, J. Dumolyn, J. De Smet and F. Van Dam, eds: Van Eyck, An 9 less than life-size. The large-faced, Optical Revolution, Veurne and Ghent 2020. narrow shouldered Ghent donors are 8 Exhibition guide: M. Depoorter and L. Van Den Abeele: Van Eyck, An Optical Revolution. cramped into their narrow niches, 112 pp. with numerous col. ills. (Museum voor which are barely plausible spaces for Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 2020), €15. ISBN 9–7890–829713–8. them to occupy. At the same time, Jan 9 M. Postec and G. Steyaert: ‘The Van introduced hardly noticeable spiders’ Eycks’ creative process. The paintings from (under)drawing to the final touch in paint’, webs spun across the visible corners in B. Fransen and C. Stroo, eds: The Ghent of both niches.10 At once extravagant Altarpiece, Research and Conservation of the Exterior (Contributions to the Study of the in his efforts to introduce credible Flemish Primitives, CSFP 14), Brussels 2020, details and highly economical in all pp.194–247, at p.234. Ibid. p.238. other parts of his pictures, he painted 10 spontaneously and at great speed, with delight and with verve. The work of his imitators, even the most accomplished Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor among them, looks laboured in of Renaissance comparison. Although it is relatively Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas easy to distinguish Jan’s work from 29th March–26th July that of his followers, it is less easy to classify their productions, especially by paul joannides when they are painting pastiches based on Jan’s works. The exhibition To consider mounting an exhibition provides an unrepeatable opportunity devoted to Alonso Berruguete (c.1488– to make such classifications; but, much 1561) in the United States, where his more importantly, it offers a unique work is little known, was courageous chance to observe carefully and at close but, fortune favouring the bold, it quarters the genius of Jan van Eyck. has succeeded triumphantly.1 At the National Gallery of Art, Washington 1 For the restoration, see H. Dubois: ‘The Art of Conservation XV. The conservation history (closed 17th February), where it of the Ghent Altarpiece’, THE BURLINGTON was seen by this reviewer, the show MAGAZINE, 160 (2018), pp.754–65. 2 The dates and attributions given in this concentrated on Berruguete’s multi- review are those assigned by the curators of figure, multi-media masterpiece, the the exhibition. 3 ‘Closer to Van Eyck’, http://closertovaneyck. retablo made for the high altar of the kikirpa.be/, accessed 5th March 2020. church of S. Benito el Real, Valladolid, 4 The drawing was discovered by the French art historian Louis Dimier (1865–1943), who in 1526–33. Between 1835 and 1881, bought it, apparently early in 1921, ‘chez the retablo was dismantled and its Parsons’, 45 Brompton Road, London, a business that had been inherited by the elements were taken to the Museo brothers Henry Edwin George Parsons and Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid.

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presence undiluted, resulting in some Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael, of the most affecting sculptures of the and the left-hand group is as tightly sixteenth century. pyramidal as Raphael’s Canigiani Holy The first room pivoted on Family (1507; Alte Pinakothek, Munich), Berruguete’s astonishing Ecce Homo a compositional type that Berruguete (Fig.7) from the early 1520s, elongated did not pursue in Spain. and fragile with crossed calves and a The accompanying publication stiff angular cloak that El Greco must is not a catalogue but a collection of have noticed. The Ecce Homo fronted essays with a list of exhibits, not all of a neat fictive façade containing a which are illustrated, plus a summary selection of the retablo’s sculptures and catalogue of the artist’s drawings. the painting of St Matthew, loosely Although this is now common practice inspired by Agostino Veneziano’s it seems regrettable, since detailed prints of the Evangelists after Raphael, published in 1518, the year Berruguete left . Other works by Spaniards were displayed to set a context: a small and beautiful St James by Gil de Siloe (1489–93; Met Cloisters, New York); a relief in walnut of the Lamentation (1520; private collection) by Bartolomé Ordoñez, of which an unpublished variant in marble is currently on the London art market; and a marble statuette by Ordoñez of St Sebastian greatest masters. In energy and spatial 6. Salomé, here (private collection; ex-catalogue) inventiveness, crispness and tension identified as which, pace the label, is unrelated to Judith, by Alonso of forms, command of expressive Berruguete. ’s Dying slave. Among emphasis and acute characterisation, c.1514–17. the paintings were an Adoration of his work has very few parallels in Oil on panel, 87.5 by 71 cm. the Magi by the Master of Sigena emotional intensity. He studied the (Gallerie degli (c.1519; Meadows Museum) and a statuary and reliefs of Donatello Uffizi, ; Weydenesque Virgin and Child enthroned exh. Meadows and gained intimate knowledge of Museum, by Alonso’s father, Pedro (c.1500, Michelangelo’s work in different SMU, Dallas; Museo de San Isidoro, Los Orígenes media, which he had encountered Bridgeman de Madrid). However, there were no Images). by 1508. Like theirs, his imagination Italian works – a was three-dimensional and figures 7. Ecce Homo, by Alonso would have been welcome company for designed for niches, such as his Sacrifice Berruguete. Berruguete’s so-called Salomé (Fig.6), of Isaac (Fig.5), in which the father’s c.1524. Poly- which should surely be identified as chromed wood agony exceeds the son’s, are even more with gilding, Judith displaying Holofernes’ head on satisfying seen in the round. He was height 146 cm. her return to Bethulia. The rolled-up also a master of silhouette: at the top of (Museo Nacional sleeve is a giveaway, and the severed de Escultura, the retablo, the figures of the Virgin and Valladolid; head rests on a Jewish prayer shawl, St John witnessing the Crucifixion rise exh. Meadows like the one about to cover Holofernes’ in a spiritual communion towards the Museum, head in Michelangelo’s fresco in the SMU, Dallas; haggard yet powerfully muscled Christ. photograph Sistine Chapel. Some ten drawings by Like Michelangelo, Berruguete could Javier Muñoz Berruguete were also shown, one of make his figures float. and Paz Pastor). which, Job (?) (c.1525; Art Institute of Admittedly, some of Berruguete’s Chicago; no.D8), based on Giovanni later works can be routine and Francesco Rustici (1474–1554), is involve extensive studio participation. preparatory for the retablo. But it was misjudged to evoke the A recently rediscovered alabaster collaborative nature of his production relief of the Lamentation (private in a wall panel in the second room, collection) placed at the entrance to for nothing on display fell below room two was dated 1540–50, although the highest standards or invited when Arias Martínez published it he questioning. In executing the S. Benito dated it 1520–30.2 It might be even retablo, Berrugeute’s control was earlier; as he noted the Virgin and Christ absolute, his emotional and technical is based on an engraving of the pietà by

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entries would have encouraged the collection),4 follows a model for a fragmented, and, on occasion, 8. Dummy board: contributors to explore particular slave known in a bronze relict cast in troubled’,1 a statement that opens man with a cane. c.1690. Oil on objects and themes more deeply. The the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, and fertile lines of investigation. The panel lined with eleven essays cover Berruguete’s life the structure of Michelangelo’s 1505 period had for long lacked an canvas, height 188 and career, his techniques, influences modello for the tomb (Metropolitan authoritative overview or meta- cm. (Victoria and Albert Museum, on him and his draughtsmanship. Museum of Art, New York) is adopted narrative (which are perhaps not London; exh. Tate One intriguing issue addressed by in Berrugeute’s retablo of c.1550 in S. quite the same thing) until David Britain, London). C.D. Dickerson is whether Berruguete Ursula, Toledo. Especially interesting Solkin published his powerful account became a sculptor only on his return is Berruguete’s drawing (c.1520–30; of it in 2015.2 Nevertheless, Tabitha to Spain or carved sculptures while in no.D25; not exhibited), which records Barber and her team at Tate have Italy. None is known from the Italian a lost study by Michelangelo for a been both brave and bold in tackling period but early sculptural activity is group in the Martyrdom of the 10,000 the complexities of the period in their not improbable; there was considerable (another copy of this group, much production of wood in closer to Michelangelo technically, Florence in the early cinquecento. is in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The book’s main shortcoming is and copies of two other groups are in the authors’ relative unfamiliarity known).5 Michelangelo’s drawings with Italian work. A discussion of for the mass martyrdom no doubt Berruguete’s prolonged engagement informed what Jonathan Brown calls with Rosso would have been helpful Berruguete’s ‘encyclopedia of agony’ (the head of the Virgin in the (p.9) and his access to them indicates Crucifixion from the S. Benito retablo is that he was for a period very close to intensely Rossoesque) and his interest the master. Consequently, Berruguete in Raphael deserves more attention. had a more profound understanding of In the treatment of Berruguete and Michelangelo’s sculptural ideals than Michelangelo an opportunity was lost, any of his Italian contemporaries.

for their relationship was much closer 1 Catalogue: Alonso Berruguete: First than the contributors appreciate. Thus, Sculptor of Renaissance Spain. Edited by C.D. Dickerson III and Mark McDonald with essays Berruguete’s study (c. 1512–17; Museo by Manuel Arias Martínez, Daphne Barbour, de Bellas Artes de Valencia; cat. no.D2) Jonathan Brown, Richard L. Kagan, Wendy Sepponen and Julia M. Vaquez. 230 pp. incl. of the Sistine Daniel was made at 172 col. + 1 b. & w. ills. (National Gallery of Art, eye-level and cannot have been drawn Washington, in association with the Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas; Centro de Estudios from the chapel’s floor. This section of Europa Hispanica/Center for Spain in America, the vault was under way in 1510, when Madrid and New York; and Yale University Berruguete is recorded in , and he Press, New Haven and London, 2019), $55. ISBN 978–0–300–24831–9. must have mounted the ponte, perhaps 2 M. Arias Martínez: ‘Un “Llanto sobre to assist Michelangelo with minor Christo muerto” de Alonso Berruguete’, Ars Magazine 27 (July–September 2015), pp.62–73. tasks. He certainly made other copies 3 D. Cordellier: ‘Fragments de jeunesse: deux of this area: the Ignudo cited in the feuilles inédites de Michel-Ange au Louvre’, La Revue du Louvre 41, no.2 (1991), pp.43–55. figure of Isaac of the Abraham and Isaac 4 R. Coppel: ‘St Sebastian’, in idem and N. is that to the left above Daniel, and, as Jennings: Alonso Berruguete: Renaissance Sculptor, London 2017, pp.77–82. Arias Martinez notes, the gables from 5 See P. Joannides: ‘Bodies in the trees: a the S. Benito retablo are taken from mass-martyrdom by Michelangelo’, Apollo 140 (November 1994), pp.3–14; and idem: Michelangelo’s severies. ‘Unconsidered trifles: copies after lost But more exciting than drawings by Michelangelo’, Paragone no.633, 3rd series, no.46 (November 2002), pp.3–17. Berruguete’s engagement with Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel is his knowledge of unexecuted designs by Michelangelo: the S. British Baroque: Power Benito John the Evangelist is based on and Illusion Michelangelo’s drawing (Musée du Tate Britain, London Louvre, Paris) for the same apostle 4th February–19th April in the series of apostles he began for Florence Cathedral in 1503 and other by jeremy wood statues from the retablo may also follow lost ideas for those figures.3 The period in British art from the Berruguete also knew some of Restoration in 1660 to the death of Michelangelo’s studies for the tomb Queen Anne in 1714 has recently of Julius II: his St Sebastian (private been described as ‘competitive,

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