Master of Ibdes. First third of the 16th cent... Lot n° 4

Master of Ibdes. First third of the 16th century. 'Madonna and Child with Donor.' Tempera painting on pine wood. Measurements: 111 x 60 cm. The work depicts the Virgin and Child accompanied by a male donor, who has a tonsure and can be identified as a religious figure due to his attire. Undoubtedly, he is the patron of the altarpiece to which this altarpiece compartment belonged, which, logically, would have been accompanied by others that we do not know of. The characters are positioned in front of an architectural parapet, above which we see a landscape with plant elements and a building.   This work is an interesting contribution to the history of painting in the regions of Valencia and Aragon in the early 16th century. It must be attributed to the same painter who created the Madonna and Child, which is still kept in the church of San Miguel de Ibdes (Zaragoza). The latter was originally attributed by Post to the Master of Gotor, although a later study by Dr. Carmen Morte confirmed that it was the work of an anonymous master, most likely of Valencian origin, due to its similarities with the Leonardo da Vinci style of Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina and Fernando Llanos.   Indeed, both this painting and the one from Ibdes exhibit a style clearly influenced by the Hernandos, who imported Leonardo's forms and sfumato to the Valencia region. In this panel, we can see that the face of Mary strongly resembles that of numerous female figures found in works by Yáñez, such as the famous Saint Catherine in the Prado Museum, or paintings by other masters from the same Leonardo-inspired artistic circle, such as Miquel Esteve. All of this suggests that the painter of this panel and the one from Ibdes may have been a master trained in Valencia in the milieu of Yáñez and Llanos, perhaps even in their workshop, who later moved to Aragon to continue his work, although we do not know if he did so temporarily or permanently. In any case, having two works by him allows us to establish a new artistic personality, which we can refer to as the 'Master of Ibdes.'   We would like to thank Dr. Alberto Velasco Gonzàlez for the attribution and cataloguing of this lot.   Provenance: Switzerland, private collection.