16th Century Spanish School, Saint Paul, Circle Of Alonso Berruguete 1490-1561.

Spanish school of the second third of the 16th century, Saint Paul, Circle of Alonso Berruguete 1490-1561. 145 x 70 x 55 cm. This sculpture shows the technical quality of the Spanish sculptors of the 16th century, who, after trips to Italy to admire the works of the great ancient masters as well as those of the Renaissance, returned to their native lands, to develop their own and original style. Alonso Berruguete himself made the trip. Son of the painter Pedro Berruguete, he went to work in Italy from 1508 to 1518 in Florentine and Roman workshops and returned to Spain to devote himself to sculpture, where he established his workshop in 1523 in Valladolid. He brought to Spain previously unknown mannerist and monumental models that spread and influenced many artists after him. He had many commissions from the Spanish nobility, even from the Emperor Charles V, as well as from churches and abbeys for which he executed altarpieces and stalls for example. His workshop occupies an important place in order to respond to all these commissions. This work, from the entourage of Alonso Berruguete is a sculpture of great quality and monumentality, which represents Saint Paul holding a book in his left hand, while in his right hand he carried the sword that identifies him, which has unfortunately not been preserved. The emphasized and powerful anatomy and the serenity that imbues the face of Saint Paul show the influence of Italian sculpture and the original models created by Berruguete, which after him, were taken up by sculptors whose names have not been preserved, but who were capable of quality production, following the leader that was Alonso Berruguete in this imperial Spain in full artistic effervescence. The polychromy, almost entirely original, is also of high quality with its estofado decoration, requiring different preparations superimposed in layers. Under the Book is depicted the conversion of St Paul.