ALONSOGONZÁLEZBERRUGUETE Lot n° 10

During the first half of the 16th century the production of easel paintings in triptych format with folding leaves increased notably in Spain, following the tradition of works imported from Italy and Flanders. An example of this is this triptych, whose central panel depicts the Virgin and Child on a cloudy celaje landscape. The side panels are divided into two sections: in the upper part are San Roque and San Sebastián in avanerate niches and, in the lower part, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Judging by the presence of San Roque and San Sebastián in their respective niches, this is a devotional type of work, as these saints are known as protectors and intercessors against the plague and epidemics in general, being invoked since the Middle Ages. Although it was previously attributed to Jan van Scorel, a Flemish painter active in Rome, and Pedro Machuca (Toledo, h. 1490 - Granada, 1550), it is clear that Alonso Berruguete's pictorial works were ascribed to the collection. The detailed analysis of the whole allows us to observe Berruguete's characteristic fusion of classical sculpture, Michelangelo's models and Florentine mannerism, generating a close relationship between painting and sculpture. Not in vain does the figure of San Sebastián derive from one of the nudes that Michelangelo included in his preparatory drawing for the fresco of The Battle of Cascina, a fresco that was never executed. In the same way, the torsion of the body of San Sebastián is very reminiscent of the Laocoonte sculptural group, a work that Berruguete was able to discover after being discovered in 1505 and exhibited in the octagonal courtyard of the Belvedere. Regarding this influence, as Gómez Frechina points out in his report, "it should be noted that Vasari himself included Berruguete among the artists who participated in the competition to sculpt a copy of the Laocoonte group, organised to demonstrate that the wax