Title

Altarpiece from Fuentes de Duero (Valladolid)

Anonimous

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

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Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

On the back of the altarpiece appears a mark of its manufacture in Brussels.

Object history

"Sculptural work, curious and most meritorious for its craftsmanship and composition", this is how this altarpiece from Fuentes de Duero (Valladolid) was described in 1927 in the file that preceded its sale to the diocese of Valladolid, at the request of the parish priest of Tudela de Duero, whose parish church depended on the church of Santiago de Duero in Fuentes de Duero. the alienation of the same in the diocese of Valladolid, at the request of the parish priest of Tudela de Duero, on whose parish depended the temple of Santiago in Fuentes de Duero. The appraisal made by the expert appraiser had given the work a value of 15,000 pesetas. To justify the sale, the need for resources with which to undertake repair and consolidation works on the roof and dome of the parish church, which threatened ruin, was appealed to. Therefore, this liquidation was contemplated as a way to obtain the necessary resources. On the other hand, the archbishopric's report stated that there was no impediment to the sale: "...there is no record in any document that the said altarpiece was paid for by donations or alms from individuals or from the parish, the most well-founded assumption being that it came from some of the ancient and extinct monasteries that fed in those vicinities" (Martínez Ruiz, 2018, p. 272).

Certainly, the parish's factory books refer to the existence of a primitive altarpiece that adorned the main chapel (currently occupying that site is a neoclassical altar) coming from the parish church of Santiago de Fuentes de Duero: "He visited the altar and main chapel [...] and in it an altarpiece of small carving and qu'es the church of the invocation of Sr. Santiago and the main chapel and burial of the factory and church and no one has any property in it" (Martín González, 1973, pp. 38-39). The quote referred to this triptych of polychrome and gilded wood, which surely at some point must have had painted wooden doors that would allow it to be closed. As a whole it illustrates different scenes related to the infancy of Christ. Ara Gil relates it to the Brussels workshops, from which it reproduces models from the second third of the 15th century (Ara Gil, 1977, pp. 330-331).

After its sale, the altarpiece entered the international antiques circuit; it was in the hands of the antiques firm Stora (with offices in Paris and New York), and since 1962 it has been part of the catalog of the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts. This museum highlights its uniqueness, for being one of the few altarpieces that are preserved imported from Flanders to Spain, and the only one of its kind preserved in American collections. In addition to its extraordinary richness and meticulous workmanship.

Description

The altarpiece is of Flemish school and illustrates various scenes from the life of Christ: The betrothal of the Virgin and St. Joseph, Annunciation, Birth of Christ and Adoration of the shepherds, Presentation of the child in the temple, Adoration of the Magi, all of which is framed at the top by God the Father and the heavenly court.

Locations

• 1927

  church

  Church of Santiago, Fuentes de Duero (Spain)

• Unknown date

  dealer/antiquarian

  Stora, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1961 - present

  museum

  Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts (United States)