Bartolomé Bermejo
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
painter who adopted Flemish
Seventeen Provinces
The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of Western Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held by...
painting techniques and conventions.
Biography
Bermejo, whose real name was Bartolomé de Cárdenas, was born in CórdobaCórdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
. He is first documented in a receipt issued in Valencia in 1468 when a patron, Antonio Juan, commissioned him to paint the altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
of the church of San Miguel in Tous
Tous, Valencia
Tous is a municipality in the Valencian Community, in the province of Valencia. The town is rather well known because, in 1982, the river Jucar broke Tous's reservoir provoking a great flood with a flood of 16,000 m3/s and more than 30 casualties. The flood was called La Pantanada....
, in Valencia
Valencia (province)
Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...
(the central panel of which is currently housed in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
). He was last documented in the last decade of the fifteenth century and may have therefore died at Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
around this time.
Works
Although it is uncertain where Bermejo received his training, he was profoundly influenced by 15th century Flemish paintingEarly Netherlandish painting
Early Netherlandish painting refers to the work of artists active in the Low Countries during the 15th- and early 16th-century Northern renaissance, especially in the flourishing Burgundian cities of Bruges and Ghent...
. Bermejo travelled extensively throughout Spain, completing a variety of commissions for his Spanish and foreign patrons (including the Triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
of the Virgin of Montserrat
Virgin of Montserrat
The Virgin of Montserrat is a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery in the Montserrat mountain in Catalonia....
, the central panel of which is by Bermejo). It is often maintained that Bermejo must have travelled to the Southern Netherlands (present-day Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
) to receive such a mastery of oil painting techniques, but this is not necessarily so as there was a strong presence of both Dutch painters and paintings in Spain during the fifteenth century.
Art historians have made a number of attempts to create a chronology for the surviving works attributed to Bermejo, that, with the exception of documented works, is based largely on the assumption that "his first works maintained the decorative character of Aragonese paintings" with his later works departing from this local tradition. Although Bermejo is greatly influenced by paintings produced by fifteenth century Flemish masters (Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
), it is his extraordinary ability to synthesise the painting techniques and conventions of Netherlandish and Spanish painting traditions that appealed to his patrons and made him one of the most celebrated Spanish painters of the period.
There are three surviving works that incorporate the artist's name within the composition: a painting of Saint Michael with Kneeling Donor, Antonio Juan (National Gallery, London); the Triptych of the Virgin of Montserrat (Acqui Cathedral
Acqui Cathedral
Acqui Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Acqui Terme, in the province of Alessandria and the region of Piedmont, Italy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Acqui.-History and description:...
); and La Piedad with Canon Desplá. A number of other works, including the Retable of Santo Domingo de Silos, have been attributed to Bermejo through the survival of documentary evidence. Caution must be exercised when examining a number of other paintings attributed to Bermejo, as they are often, rather unconvincingly, ascribed to him based on style.
Works
- Central panel from the Saint Michael Triumphs over the Devil (c. 1468), National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery, LondonThe National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
- Central panel from the Altarpiece of St. Dominique de Silos (1474-1477), Museo del PradoMuseo del PradoThe Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of...
, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(central panel) - Altarpiece of St. Engracia (v. 1476), collegiate church, DarocaDarocaDaroca is a city and municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, situated to the south of the city of Zaragoza. It is the center of a judicial district....
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(Crucifixion) - Altarpiece of the Virgin of Montserrat (v. 1485), Acqui CathedralAcqui CathedralAcqui Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Acqui Terme, in the province of Alessandria and the region of Piedmont, Italy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Acqui.-History and description:...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - Pietà (1490), Barcelona Cathedral