Alejo Fernández

The actual painting is slightly richer and less contrasted in tone than it appears in the catalogue illustration. The panel support has been transferred to canvas: though the relining canvas is recent the transfer was probably done some time ago. The black rectangle lower centre is an addition to make up the shape (the painting must have been removed from above an altar, thus its original irregular shape). As with most transfers, the paint surface has suffered from the change in support. The picture appears pitted, with numerous small losses throughout. The gold leaf details – on haloes and draperies – seem to have survived quite well but the silver leaf – on the nails, hammer and pliers at the foot of the cross – has worn off. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a vertical band (3-4cm. wide) just left of centre, probably where the old panel join was. The repaired damages are too numerous to mention one by one but it is fair to say that the upper section of the painting, particularly the cross and sky, have suffered more than the lower half. The lefthand group of figures and the Magdalene have survived better, particularly where there is no actual damage. Christ has a repaired damage on his face. The design on the robe of the man supporting Christ has been strengthened throughout. There is retouching on the Virgin’s robe, particularly since the blue pigment is fragile. The condition of the painting could be described as fair, despite the numerous repairs and the fact that it is a transfer. This lot is offered unframed.
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Much of our scant knowledge of Alejo Fernández's formative years was pieced together by the great art historians Don Diego Angulo Iñiguez and Don José de la Torre y del Cerro, the latter of whom discovered a large series of documents on Cordoban art which detailed certain events from Alejo's youth, such as his marriage to María in circa 1496 and the birth of their son Francisco a year later.¹ In 1508 Alejo seems to have moved with his brother Jorge, a sculptor, to Seville and, following some successful early commissions (from, for example, the cathedral chapter to carry out painting, gilding and tooling work on the figures of the reredos of the main altar), Alejo established himself in that city and he seems to have remained there for the best part of his life. Throughout his career, however, his style is distinctly northern if flavour to the extent that most critics believe him to have been born and bred in Germany or Flanders. Many of the figure groups that populate his religous works are based on engravings by Albrecht Dürer and Martin Schöngauer while the facial types, draperies and landscapes usually follow a distinctly Flemish pattern. Such influences are nowhere more apparent than in the present work, which was probably originally conceived as an altarpiece for a parish church near Seville, such as that of Ecija where Alejo's 'Santiago' altarpiece compares very closely to this painting.²

We are grateful to Dr. Isabel Mateo for endorsing the attribution to Alejo Fernández on the basis of photographs.



1. See C. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, vol. X, Cambridge (Mass.) 1950, p. 8ff.
2. See D.A. Iñiguez, Alejo Fernandez, Seville 1946, p. 23, reproduced plates 38-40.