Master of Palanquinos

Private collection, Barcelona;
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1990.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The Gothic gilt engaged frame has had worm damage and some of the original gilding has been rubbed, revealing the red ground beneath. The paint surface is stable on all three panels but the central panel has a wood knot lifting the paint and there also is some worm damage visible. The blue in the sky , to all panels, is degraded and the background to the figures in the left and right wings, which once was gold ground, has been worn and lost revealing ground colour. The pounced gold ground to the halo and background in the central panel is worn but is in a good original condition. Overall, in a good condition with some of the paint well preserved and many of the finer details, for instance to the faces, are intact. Removing the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in a plain moulded gilt engaged frame, with some worm damage and losses."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

We are grateful to Isabel Mateo for endorsing the attribution to the Master of Palanquinos, a master working in the province of Léon towards the end of the 16th Century. The Palanquinos master, whose style is clearly influenced by that of the Castillian Fernando Gallego, was one of the leading exponents of the Hispano-Flemish style in the school of Léon around 1500. M. Gomez-Moreno was the first to identify a group of works by this anonymous hand, suggesting the title of the Palanquinos master on the basis that his then most significant works were the six panels from the church of the town of Palanquinos, south of Léon. Chandler Post¹ continued to identify further works by this most individual of painters so that today a fairly large group of panels can be attributed with some certainty to this still anonyomous but highly idiosyncratic hand. Typical of the master are the unusual motif patternation of the drapery and background in the present work and the heavy-set eyes and intense gaze of the figures.

1. C. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, vol. IV, part 1, Cambridge (Mass.) 1933, p. 155ff.