MASTER OF ALZIRA (GASPAR GODOS, 1480-1547). "Altarpiece... Lot 92

MASTER OF ALZIRA (GASPAR GODOS, 1480-1547). "Altarpiece of the Angelic Principalities", ca.1520. Oil on panel. Restored. Provenance: Convent of the Consolation in Xàtiva (Valencia). Attached certificate of authenticity issued by José Gómez Frechina, Sept. 2022. Measurements: 212 x 160 x 18 cm (with frame). An important large Valencian Renaissance panel, which, as the attached study certifies, was made by the Master of Alzira (Gaspar Godos). It is an altarpiece of the Angelic Principalities from the Dominican convent of La Consolación in Xátiva. The Guardian Angel of Valencia presides over the composition, with a studied symmetrical arrangement based on numerous figures arranged in two strata: the earthly and the divine, separated by a landscape open to bluish mountains, with a low horizon. In the upper part, the angel, guardian of Valencia and its kingdom, whose attributes are the crown and the sword, is accompanied by archangels (we recognise Michael the Archangel in the one wearing a cross and military armour) and choirs placed at different levels of depth, with only the angelic heads appearing in the furthest ones. All of them wear golden crowns. In the lower area, men and women are distributed on a stony ground, separated by gender. Their attitudes, from left and right, as in the celestial zone, are replicated as in a mirror, but with subtle variations. The two kneeling figures (male and female) in the foreground probably represent the donors. The others represent different social classes and categories: bishops, priests, knights, saints, a Dominican nun... A mixtilinear arch crowns the upper part, with mouldings decorated with Italian-influenced vine leaves. In the folds of the angels' tunics, tied with cincture, in the delicate drawing of the bare feet and the rigorous profiles of the faces, as well as in the bright, vivid palette, clear concomitances can be seen with works from the pictorial corpus of the Master of Alcira (see Saint Michael the Archangel, ca. 1530, now in the Valencia Museum of Fine Arts, or the Allegory of the Passions, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest). The stylistic attribution of this altarpiece of the Angelic Principalities to the Master of Alzira was proposed by Diaz Padrón and Padrín Mérida in 1983. The panel has also been identified with a work described in two texts on the artistic heritage of the Convent of La Consolación in Xàtiva: "Las tablas de las iglesias de Játiva" (Elías Tormo, 1912) and the Catálogo monumental y artístico de la provincia de Valencia, written by González Simancas (Tomás Navarro Library, CSIC). An anonymous painter active in the Valencia region in the second quarter of the 16th century is known by the name of Maestro de Alcira. He played an important role in the development of the Renaissance in Valencia, where the humanist circle at the court of Ferdinand of Aragon was very receptive to artistic innovations from Italy and Flanders. The Master of Alcira has been identified with the painter Gaspar Godos (active in Aragon and Valencia) in a detailed study by Antonio Gómez Arribas. This study, published in 2019, has been well received by historiography, to which documentary details have been added to support this thesis (Mercedes Gómez-Ferrer, 2021). The similarity of styles between the master of Alcira (so called after the attribution of the altarpiece of the Virgin of the church of San Agustín de Alcira, 1527) and the author of the altarpiece of the Nativity of the Monastery of Cabas and that of Almas, preserved in the MNAC), has justified the identification of the anonymous master with Godos. Gómez-Ferrer has also pointed to his apprenticeship in the workshop of Pere Cabanes (Valencia, active in 1469-1528). The cross-braced structure that supports the pine boards is characteristic of Valencian panels of the period.