The altarpiece of Saint Dominic of Silos by Bartolomé Bermejo: an example of painting practices during the early Spanish Renaissance

• Autores: María Dolores Gayo García, Maite Jover de Celis, Laura Alba Carcelén
• Localización: The Renaissance Workshop / David Saunders (ed. lit.), Marika Spring (ed. lit.), Andrew Meek (ed. lit.), 2013, ISBN 978-1-904982-93-7, págs. 71-78
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In 1474, Bartolomé Bermejo (doc. 1468-1501) was contracted to execute the altarpiece for the church of Saint Dominic of Silos in Daroca (Saragossa). Two of the panels and part of the architectural structure of this altarpiece (dismantled in the eighteenth century), are in the collection of the Prado Museum. The central panel, with the representation of Saint Dominic enthroned as a bishop, is considered by specialists to be a masterpieces of fifteenth-century Spanish painting, and is attributed exclusively to Bermejo. The other panel, which represents Ferdinand I of Castile receiving Saint Dominic of Silos, seems to be a collaboration between the master and his closest pupil, Martin Bernat (doc. 1450-1505).

    The original documentation, which is very extensive, concerns both the commission and the legal disputes that occurred throughout the creation of the altarpiece, which forced Bermejo to abandon it, leaving the completion up to his pupil alone. Moreover, the regulations of the painters' guilds of the cities in Spain that regulated the organization and the practices of artists' workshops in this period offer valuable information about the painting materials and practices in fifteenth-century Spain.

    In this contribution, documentary historical sources are compared with the technical data obtained through analysis of the two panels of this altarpiece in the Prado Museum. This integrated study includes analysis of the materials (support, binding media, pigments and gilding), as well as the way in which these have been employed by the artists concerned (investigated by X-radiography and infrared reflectography).

    Furthemore, the study of these two panels, which were probably executed by two distinct artists, allows the degree of collaboration between Bermejo and his pupil Bernat to be established. The results can also be compared with other works by these artists in the collections of other institutions.