Fernando GALLEGO (c. 1440-after 1507)
The Holy Women (fragment).
Mixed-media painting on pine panel, one board, not parqueted.
Fragment of an altarpiece panel (old restorations, lifting and small visible lack). Engraved and stamped gilded aureoles: original.
Height 40.5 cm - Width 24 cm
17th-century molded and gilded frame.
The arrangement of the figures is strongly reminiscent of a fragment of a Deposition of the Body of Christ, in which three haloed holy women are recognized, with Saint Magdalene in the foreground, her hair undone and dressed in a gilded, molded frame.
in her traditional red cloak. The imposing dimensions of the protagonists, their broad faces emphasized by strong lines whose underlying design is clearly visible, and their bulging eyes express resignation, restrained emotion, and even a certain expressionism in the half-open mouth of Saint Magdalene. The Flemish-inspired treatment of the heavy draperies with their brittle folds, and the use of saturated colors, link the painting as a whole to the style of works by Fernando Gallego. Originally from Salamanca, Gallego worked in Castilla Leon at the end of the 15th century. He was one of the leading figures of the Spanish-Flemish period in Spain. His many surviving works, mostly painted on panels and inspired by German engravings, bear witness to a strong, inventive personality with a monumental, severe and realistic style.
Other works by the same painter, such as the Virgin's face in the Pietà signed by Gallego around 1470 (Madrid, Prado Museum) or the
Saint Magdalene and the musician angel, seen from the front (fig.1) in the upper sinister corner of the Coronation of the Virgin (Salamanca, Museo Diocesano).
As for the profile of the woman on the left of our panel, the comparison is equally eloquent with the face of Saint Gregory in the Messe de saint Grégoire (fig.2) (private collection; cf. La Pintura gotica
hispanoflamenca, Bartolomé Bermejo y su epoca, exhibition Barcelona, Bilbao February-May 2003, no. 56, fig. p.403).
As these works are generally dated circa 1470-1480, our panel must fit into the same period.
Appraisal by Cabinet TURQUIN, Mr Stéphane PINTA - 01 47 03 48 78 - stephane.pinta@turquin.fr
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