JUAN DE SEVILLA (active ca.1425-1450), attributed. "Assassination... Lot 20

JUAN DE SEVILLA (active ca.1425-1450), attributed. "Assassination of Peter Martyr", "Scene from the life of Saint Peter Martyr: Visit to Innocent IV", "Saint Peter Martyr preaching to a family" and "Scene from the life of Saint Peter Martyr". Set of four panels painted in tempera. They show some cracks on the pictorial surface. Measurements: 54 x 52 cm; 55 x 53 cm (frame of three of them); 74 x 53 cm; 75 x 54 cm (frame of one of them). The present set is a hagiographic cycle attributed to Juan Sevilla, the painter who introduced the international Gothic style to Castile. Indeed, there are notable similarities between the episodes dedicated to Saint Peter Martyr or Paul Verona and other works by the author such as the Sigüenza Cathedral Altarpiece: the stylisation of the canons, the predominance of gold leaf, which in both cases is decorated with briscate designs (in the backgrounds or in the nimbuses), as well as the brilliant colouring (with a predominance of red, blue, white and gold), are some of the similarities. The elegant, restrained gestures of the figures, in contrast to the intense affection conveyed by their faces, are also characteristic of this painter's style. In the first panel, Peter of Verona, dressed as a Dominican, is being executed by a henchman of the heretic bishop Daniele da Giussano. This is an iconic representation, centred on the gesture of plunging an axe blade into his head, subsuming the narrative to the symbolic attitudes of each figure. The landscape note refers to the forest where the murderer assaulted the saint. In the second panel, Peter of Verona stands before a figure who could be Innocent IV, who was important in his career as he was appointed inquisitor of Lombardy. In the third panel, Peter of Verona preaches the word of God to a family. Saint Peter spread Catholicism among the Cathar families and succeeded in converting large communities. An architecturally carved frame with an interior lobed arch contains the scene, following prototypical solutions of the International Gothic style. In the fourth panel, Peter of Verona stands at the gates of the monastery. He seems to be saying farewell before leaving on one of his pilgrimages to spread the word of the Lord or to attend one of the idolatry trials in his function as prior. Frames carved in architectural form, with an interior lobed arch, contain all the scenes, following prototypical solutions of the international Gothic style. Juan Sevilla was one of the main representatives of International Gothic in Castile. Possibly from Seville, he worked mainly in Castile. Active in the diocese of Sigüenza in the second quarter of the 15th century, Juan de Sevilla was probably the author of the altarpiece of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Catherine, commissioned by Gastón de la Cerda, 4th Count of Medinaceli, for the chapel of Saint Catherine in Sigüenza cathedral. The altarpiece originally consisted of a bench and ten panels, now divided between the Museo del Prado, which owns the central panel with the titular saints and four of the side panels, and the sacristy of the chapel of Santa Catalina or the Arce family for which it was painted. The artist, whom Chandler R. Post called the Master of Sigüenza, was identified by José Gudiol Ricart as the author of a triptych of the Virgin and Child with musical angels signed Johannes Hispalensis, with Saint Peter and Saint Paul on the side panels. This triptych, owned by the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, was acquired by José Lázaro in the Zaragozan shop, although the signature could indicate the painter's Andalusian provenance, and Ricart also identified him with a Juan de Peralta who signed Johns Peraltis a Saint Andrew in a private Parisian collection. The anonymous Sigüenza master, Juan de Sevilla and Juan de Peralta would thus be one and the same painter, Juan de Peralta, originally from Seville. Other works related to this master of complex personality include the panels of the altarpiece of Saint Andrew and Saint Antolin in the Toledo Museum (Ohio), also from Sigüenza cathedral, the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in the Museo Cerralbo, with the arms of the de la Cerda family and attributed to Juan de Peralta, and the Coronation of the Virgin in the Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud in Perpignan, also from the chapel of the Arce family in Sigüenza cathedral. Other authors consider that, given the somewhat more expressive style of the panels signed by Juan de Peralta, he may have been a disciple or follower of Seville.