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SCULPTING MEDIA
For different types of carving,
and modelling, see:
Stone Sculpture
From igneous, sedimentary,
and metamorphic rocks.
Marble Sculpture
Pentelic, Carrara, Parian marbles.
Wood Carving
Chip carving, relief carving of
softwoods and hardwoods.
Bronze Sculpture
Lost-wax casting method,
sandcasting, centrifugal casting.
BEST WORKS OF SCULPTURE
For a list of the world's top 100
3-D artworks, by the best sculptors
in the history of art, see:
Greatest Sculptures Ever.
BEST SCULPTORS
For a list of the world's most
talented 3-D artists, see:
Greatest Sculptors.
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To begin with he set up a workshop in Valladolid,
hired a number of apprentices, and - it is said - charged prices to match
his growing reputation. Spain was prospering and Berruguete reportedly
was determined to be accorded the same respect as that enjoyed by Italian
artists. In due course, Berruguete built himself a palace in Valladolid,
close by the monastery of S. Benito, for which he created one of his greatest
altarpieces. He enjoyed an extremely lucrative career, and was ennobled
in 1559, some two years before his death, when the regent of Portugal,
Princess Juana, gave him the village of Ventosa with its 120 inhabitants.
Sculptures by Alonso Berruguete
Berruguete was active initially in the
Valladolid region, then later in Toledo. His best known works include:
the almost complete altarpiece for the monastery of La Mejorada, Olmedo
(1526, now in Valladolid); the altarpiece of S. Benito (1527-1532), now
in Valladolid Museum; the altar of the Irish College in Salamanca (1529-32);
the choir stalls in Toledo Cathedral (1539-43); the marble funeral monument
to the Cardinal Archbishop Juan de Tavera at the hospital of St. John
the Baptist, in Toledo (1557-1561). Other works attributed to him can
be found in Madrid (Palace of El Pardo), Arezzo, Uffizi Gallery Florence,
Borghese Gallery Rome, Munich and Budapest.
Altarpieces
Berruguete's powerful altarpieces typically
spanned the entire apse of the church, being divided by a lavishly decorated
architectural framework in which he placed his individual figures and
relief panels. In this way, he created a single dramatic spectacle of
religious decoration, and above all, feeling. See for instance the emotion
of Abraham and Isaac, or the suffering of St. Sebastian
in the altarpiece of S. Benito. The expressionism of Berreguate's sculpture,
characterized by writhing, wailing, ecstatic figures, tortured drapery
and brilliant colours, reflected the religious emotionalism of the age,
and it is no surprise that he was succeeded in Toledo, from around 1577,
by the equally emotive artist El Greco
(1541-1614).
Berruguete carved mainly in wood (painted
and unpainted), as well as marble, alabaster and stone. It is believed
that he carved and painted all figurative sculpture in polychromed-wood,
but relied on his assistants to produce works like the alabaster Transfiguration
in Toledo Cathedral (1543-1548) and also his last work, the monument to
Cardinal Juan de Tavera.
Legacy
Berruguete's genius lay in his creation
of a uniquely Spanish style of mannerist sculpture, expressing an uncontrollable
passion and spiritual ecstasy which burns the soul of the spectator.
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