Alonso Berruguete, The Sacrifice of Isaac (detail), 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. Image © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/013

Washington, DC—Alonso Berruguete (c. 1488–1561) revolutionized the arts of Renaissance Spain with a dramatic style of sculpture that reflected the decade or more he spent in Italy while young. Although unfamiliar to most Americans, and rarely featured in traditional accounts of Renaissance art, Berruguete has been revered as an icon in Spain for centuries. Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, in collaboration with the Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid, Spain, Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain is the first exhibition devoted to the artist held outside Spain. About 45 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper drawn mostly from international collections will be on view in the Gallery's West Building from October 13, 2019, through February 17, 2020.

Celebrated today primarily for his expressive sculptures, Berruguete was also a skilled painter and draftsman. The exhibition presents a range of works from across the artist's career, including one of the paintings he made while in Italy, the seductive Salome (c. 1514–1517, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence). A group of some of his 25 known drawings is also included, each testifying to his abilities as a draftsman. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a selection of his best sculptures—all carved in wood and painted and gilded—from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real in Valladolid, Spain, now in the collection of the city's Museo Nacional de Escultura. One section of the enormous altarpiece is loosely reconstructed in the exhibition to give visitors some idea of how the sculptures were originally installed. An accompanying film showcases those works by Berruguete that cannot travel, such as his alabaster group of the Transfiguration of Christ that crowns the choir of Toledo cathedral. Drone footage provides stunning views of these powerful works.

"The Gallery is excited to introduce American audiences to Alonso Berruguete, a Spanish cultural treasure who until now has been little known on this side of the Atlantic," said Kaywin Feldman, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. "The exhibition brings to life the network of artists working in Castile at the time and the rich cultural exchange of the period. Together with the catalog, Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain will add greatly to our understanding of the multitalented artist's place in the Renaissance."

Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain opens with a group of paintings and sculptures representing the artistic world in which Berruguete grew up, a world dominated by artists working in the prevailing Hispano-Flemish style. Reflecting the influence of artists from Flanders and other places in northern Europe, the style is characterized by minute details, complicated patterns of angular drapery, elongated bodily features, and the use of pointed arches and other elements of Gothic architecture. Berruguete would have learned the particulars of the style from his father, Pedro Berruguete, one of the leading Hispano-Flemish painters. Pedro is represented in the exhibition with one of his most accomplished paintings, Virgin and Child Enthroned (c. 1500, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Museo de San Isidro, Los Orígenes de Madrid).

Pedro Berruguete, The Virgin and Child Enthroned, c. 1500, oil on panel, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Museo de San Isidro, Los Orígenes de Madrid. Image: © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado

Berruguete traveled to Italy around 1506 and is first recorded in Rome, where he met Michelangelo. Like all young artists who came to Italy, he turned immediately to studying ancient sculpture and the works of the modern masters. He moved to Florence after some time and found success there as a painter. The few paintings that survive from his time in Italy—such as Salome—demonstrate that Berruguete was one of the pioneers of mannerism, a style of exaggerated forms and supreme elegance that came into fashion during the 1510s.

Alonso Berruguete, Salome, c. 1514–1517, oil on panel, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence. Image: Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence.

In Italy Berruguete also learned to draw. He would become the first Spanish artist to create a recognizable body of drawings. Only about 25 of his drawings survive, with a large selection presented in the exhibition. He used drawings to plan his compositions and communicate his designs to assistants.  These range in type from quick pen-and-ink sketches to more controlled works in chalk and other media, such as The Assumption of the Virgin (c. 1550–1560, The British Museum, London).

Alonso Berruguete, Man Carrying a Sack, c. 1508–1510, red chalk, Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, Paris, Inv. 2706. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

Alonso Berruguete, The Prophet Daniel (after Michelangelo), c. 1512–1517, red chalk, Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, Colección Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, 2453.

Most of the works in the exhibition date to after Berruguete's return to Spain in 1518. His first stop was Zaragoza, where he was invited to serve as the court painter to the newly crowned King Charles I (the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). Shortly after, he decided to branch out into the more lucrative field of sculpture. His focus became retablos, the traditional kind of altarpiece used in Spain that combines painting and sculpture. A selection of his best sculptures from his masterpiece as a maker of retablos is the focal point of the exhibition: the retablo mayor of San Benito el Real, the most important monastic church in Valladolid. In works like The Sacrifice of Isaac (1526/1533, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid), his radical style is on full display: figures that seem to be in constant motion, their faces contorted by intense expression. Berruguete recognized that there was a place in his native Castile for the art he had learned in Italy—an art of manipulating the human form to create heightened emotion. The exhibition also features a group of recently conserved sculptures, The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1537–1538), from a smaller retablo that Berruguete made for a private chapel in the church of Santiago Apóstol, Valladolid.

Alonso Berruguete, Ecce Homo, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, c. 1524, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0728

Alonso Berruguete, Saint Christopher, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/015

Alonso Berruguete, The Sacrifice of Isaac, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/013

Alonso Berruguete, Saint John the Evangelist (Calvary group), from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/051.

Alonso Berruguete, The Virgin Mary (Calvary group), from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/050.

Alonso Berruguete, Saint Matthew Writing the Gospel, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, oil on panel, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Vallodolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/003

Alonso Berruguete, Relief with Putti, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/072

Alonso Berruguete, Saint Benedict Converting the Goth Zalla, from the retablo mayor (high altarpiece) of San Benito el Real, 1526/1533, painted wood with gilding, Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid. © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid (Spain); photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor; CE0271/005

Alonso Berruguete (C. 1488–1561)

Born around 1488 in a small town in northern Castile, Berruguete spent his youth at the side of his father, the distinguished painter, Pedro Berruguete. Around the age of 17—not long after his father's death—he made the life-altering decision to move to Italy, where he remained until 1518. On returning to Spain, he first served Charles I as his painter. Eventually, he made his way to Valladolid, where he established his workshop and turned his attention to producing retablos. Berruguete produced at least a half dozen retablos for churches and private chapels over his career, including the one for San Benito el Real.

As Berruguete's fame spread, he was invited to undertake a string of prestigious commissions in Toledo. His principal patron there was the powerful archbishop, Cardinal Juan Pardo de Tavera. Some of Berruguete's most powerful works decorate the cathedral's choir, including the wood reliefs on the seatbacks. Berruguete died in 1561 as he was putting the finishing touches on the archbishop's marble tomb—just 16 years before El Greco's arrival in the city.

Alonso Berruguete,  Job or Levi, after c. 1525, pen and brown ink, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection, 1922.50.

Alonso Berruguete, Seven Figures and a Design for Architecture, c. 1540–1555, pen and brown ink and wash with white highlights over black chalk, Beaux-Arts de Paris, EBA 473. © Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo by Legs Armand-Valton

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Fund. Additional funding is provided by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is curated by C. D. Dickerson III, curator and head of sculpture and decorative arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Mark McDonald, curator of drawings and prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curator for the Meadows Museum venue is Wendy Sepponen, Mellon Curatorial Fellow, Meadows Museum, SMU.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, in collaboration with the Museo Nacional de Escultura in Valladolid.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, October 13, 2019–February 17, 2020
Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, March 29–July 26, 2020

Gil de Siloe, Saint James the Greater, 1489/1493, alabaster with paint and gilding, Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, 1969, 69.88.

Spanish (Castile), The Miracle of the Palm Tree on the Flight to Egypt, c. 1490–1510, painted walnut with gilding, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1938, 38.184.

Bartolomé Ordóñez, The Lamentation of Christ, c. 1518–1519, walnut, private collection.