Other names

Biography

When Post (1947) in his A History of Spanish Painting named a painter, he did so taking into account his most representative work and where it was located. Thus, he named this artist as Maestro de Sirga for the altarpiece of Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia). However, an autograph panel -Prophet Moses- preserved in the collection of Jose Gudiol Ricart shed light on his identity. From that moment on, he was known by the name of Master Alexius. However, doubts about his figure have continued: Isabel Mateo (2015) argues that Maestro Alejo and Maestro de la Cazada are the same artist; while Pilar Silva (1990) considers that Maestro de la Calzada (ca. 1500-1530) would have trained alongside Maestro Alejo (ca.1485-1515).

Master Alejo's work is characterized by the use of large folds to generate volume and movement in the garments; an often disproportionate anatomy with prominent noses or bulging eyelids; turned figures with mannered gestures and the influence of Juan de Flandes and Berruguete.

We can cite, by way of example, the following works by Master Alejo: the two altarpieces for the church of Santa María la Blanca in Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia); Coronation of St. Peter with donor (Private collection, Barcelona) or Saints Apolonia, Barbara and Agueda (Art Institute of Chicago).

Bibliography

• MATEO GÓMEZ, Isabel (2015): "Dos nombres para un maestro", nº 27, Ars magazine: revista de arte y coleccionismo, pp. 108-117.
• POST, Chandler Rathfon (1947): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 9 (The Beginning of the Renaissance in Castile and Leon), nº 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 480-489.
• SILVA MAROTO, María Pilar (1990): Pintura hispanoflamenca castellana: Burgos y Palencia. Obras en tabla y sarga, vol. III, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, pp. 911-920.