Title

Christ among the Doctors

Maestro Bartolomé (Active in Castile: the last third of the 15th century)

Generic classification

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Object history

This is one of the twenty-six surviving panels from the former main altarpiece of the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, all of which are now in The University of Arizona Museum of Art. This altarpiece was one of the most important examples of a Late Gothic Castilian pictorial altarpiece, executed, according to an inscription, between 1480 and 1488. Although it was immediately attributed to Fernando Gallego, a painter based in Salamanca, it was soon realised that there was a plurality of styles that led to think, at first, of the participation of collaborators and, finally, of the participation not simply of collaborators, but of two different workshops (a common procedure in large works such as this one): Gallego's and that of Master Bartolomé, whose style, despite his distinctive personality, is so close to Gallego's that it is suggested that he could be an emancipated disciple of his or an artist trained in the same sources.

The altarpiece, of whose original structure it can only be stated that it was huge and had seven vertical lanes, but not how many panels it had or how they were arranged, was painted for the original Romanesque chevet of the cathedral. When this was demolished in the 16th century, it was reinstalled in the new Renaissance chevet, where it remained until the beginning of the 19th century. Once it was dismantled, it is known that there were twenty-nine panels (that is, three more than are currently preserved in Tucson). The chapter of Ciudad Rodrigo rejected several offers of acquisition from institutions with a cultural and historical-artistic interest in the panels, finally selling them in 1879 to an dealer in Madrid (José Fallola), who immediately sold them to an dealer in London (Sir John Charles Robinson). Twenty-six panels remained at that time. In 1882 they were acquired by Sir Francis Cook, a regular client of Robinson, who installed them in the family mansion, Doughty House, near London. They remained in the possession of the Cook family until the middle of the 20th century. They were then offered for sale by the firm M. Knoedler and Co., New York, and in 1954 were acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which undertook their restoration and in 1957 gave them to the museum of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Description

The altarpiece must have had a large number of panels, which made it possible to develop an extensive iconographic programme centred on the life of Christ, preceded by the Creation and concluded by the Last Judgement. The cycle of Christ's life included numerous episodes from his childhood, public life, passion and resurrection. The panel that would close the cycle of the Infancy of Christ is a particularly characteristic work by the Master Bartolomé. The half-dozen richly dressed Jewish wise men who are debating with Christ fully justify the name ‘Master of Sinister Faces’ that was given to this artist before his identity was known. In the background, on the right, are Christ's parents. St Joseph shares those sinister faces that can be seen in other Jews, while the Virgin is striking for her proximity to the signed panel in the Museo Nacional del Prado that allowed the identity of this artist to be known. Christ, in the centre of the composition, is striking for the tunic he wears, similar to the one he will wear during his Passion, of which this scene is therefore a foreshadowing.

Locations

• XV^th c. - 1879

  cathedral

  Cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, Ciudad Rodrigo (Spain)

• 1879

  dealer/antiquarian

  José Fallola, Madrid (Spain) *

• 1879 - 1882

  dealer/antiquarian

  Sir John Charles Robinson, London (United Kingdom) *

• 1882 - Mid XX^th c.

  private collection

  Doughty House, London (United Kingdom) *

• Mid XX^th c. - 1954

  dealer/antiquarian

  M. Knoedler and Company, New York (United States) *

• 1954 - 1957

  private collection

  Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York (United States) *

• 1957 - present

  museum

  The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona (United States)