Fernando Gallego
Gallego was likely born in Salamanca, Spain, and worked throughout Castile and Extremadura, most notably in Ciudad Rodrigo, Plasencia, Toro, and Zamora.
[1] Early Netherlandish painting of the 15th century was one of the dominant artistic styles, and was significant for its vivid illusionism and its complex iconography, both of which are evident in Gallego's work.
He took stylistic liberty in many of his works and painstakingly individualized the figures within them, which enhances dramatic appeal of the religious narrative while emphasizing his technical prowess.
[2] He worked with Master Bartolomé, another painter in Spain, on the Retablo of Ciudad Rodrigo, a tour de force of religious art, depicting Christian history from the Creation to the Last Judgment.
Some scholars claim there may have been upwards of forty-two narrative panels, but since the apse in the cathedral was remodeled in 1502, the size of the space the altarpiece filled is up for debate.
[5] This in addition to the stylistic attribution lead scholars to believe Gallego and his workshop played a significant role in producing the panels for the altarpiece.
A detailed discussion of these pieces and the science behind the scholarship can be found in the book Fernando Gallego and His Workshop: The Altarpiece from Ciudad Rodrigo, published by the Meadows Museum at SMU.
It consists of two main parts arranged with three panels each, a five-figured banco (predella), and two side guardapolvo (angled dust covers).
However, there is documentation from the rector Rodrigo Alvarez, requesting Fernando Gallego be hired to paint the library, since he had already worked for the cathedral on the Virgin of the Rose triptych.
"[10] Anderson notes that as opposed to Flemish practice at the time, Spanish artists stripped away many of the mundane objects in order to emphasize a more conceptual religious experience.
When it was finally attributed to a Spanish artist by art historian Charles Sterling, it was at a time when workshops and masters were still being classified, and the Getty's piece was discussed as a possible Juan Nuñez or Bartolome Bermejo, due to the Netherlandish style and similarities in composition.
Anderson compares the Pietà to the Crucifixion now in the Prado Museum and Saint Acacius and the Ten Thousand Martyrs on Mount Ararat in the SMU collection, discussing color palette, figural representation, and landscape.
This discussion proves the difficulties in attribution to Medieval and Early Renaissance works, many of which were completed in an artist's workshop and had many painters involved.
