Title
Saint Ambrose
Gonçal Peris Sarrià (?, ca. 1380 - ?, ca. 1451)
Generic classification
PaintingObject
PaintingDate
ca. 1425-1435Century
First half of the 15th c.Cultural context / style
International GothicProvenance
El Burgo de Osma Cathedral (Burgo de Osma, Soria, Spain)Current location
Louvre Museum (Paris, France)Inventory Number in Current Collection
RF 1709Object history
Cathedral of El Burgo de Osma since the 15th century.
Vitoria, Pedro Ruiz before 1905.
Purchased by the Louvre Museum from Pedro Ruiz in 1907.
Description
The saint appears standing, turned to the left, dressed with alb, golden brocade chasuble and mitre, wearing gloves and holding a volume with his right hand, hidden by the chasuble, and the episcopal crosier with the left in a gesture as elegant as it is artificial. It rises on a green carpet decorated with a pattern of "gallinets", a common textile decoration in the inventories of the Crown of Aragon of the 15th century and behind it rises a parapet decorated with tri-lobed arches topped by conopios occupied by a geometric mesh. The structure is topped by a series of small stone jars placed at equal intervals.
The panel was part of the old main altarpiece of the cathedral of El Burgo de Osma, replaced by the one made by Juan de Juni, Juan Picardo and Pedro Andrés in the middle of the 16th century. According to the reconstruction hypothesis proposed by Francesc Ruiz i Quesada and José Gómez Frechina in 2014, Saint Ambrose would occupy an elevated position on the right side street, below the figure of Saint John the Baptist (Paris, Musée du Louvre), which would occupy the apex of the street, having Saint Augustine (Cathedral of El Burgo de Osma) in front of it and missing the panels that would represent the other two western church fathers, Saint Gregory and Saint Jerome.
The panel is of great quality, evident in the modeling of the face and in the folds of the lower part of the alb, highlighting the care taken in the textile pattern of the carpet and the chasuble, whose blue laps contrast effectively with the general golden tone of the image.
Undoubtedly to complete such a large commission in the shortest possible time, the master and his workshop resorted to patterns and figures that they would use on other occasions, the figure of the Archbishop of Milan being similar to the Saint Augustine of the panel with Saint Augustine and Saint James from Bocairent (probably from the hermitage of Saint James) and today in a private collection. The only changes in the figure are the color of the chasuble, blue instead of gold, and the simplification of the background. The wall with arches at the back is a typical resource of Valencian international Gothic painting, but the same pattern is not repeated in the preserved panels of the altarpiece.
Locations
Unknown date
pre. 1905 - 1907
dealer/antiquarian
Pedro Ruiz, Vitoria (Spain) *
1907 - present
Bibliography
- ALIAGA MORELL, Joan Els Peris i la pintura valenciana medieval, Edicions Alfons el Magnànim, Valencia.
- ALIAGA MORELL, Joan (2016): "“Gonçal Peris y Gonçal Peris Sarrià, dos pintores contemporáneos del gótico internacional valenciano”", nº 25, en Ars Longa.
- GERARD POWELL, Véronique y RESSORT, Claudie (2002): Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures. Catalogue: Écoles espagnole et portugaise, Réunion des musées nationaux, París.
- GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando (2007): "“La pintura gótica en la Corona de Castilla en la primera mitad del siglo XV: la recepción de las corrientes internacionales”", en LACARRA DUCAY, Mª del Carmen (coord.), La pintura gótica durante el siglo XV en tierras de Aragón y en otros territorios peninsulares, Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza.
- GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando (2009): "“Tablas valencianas de la catedral de El Burgo de Osma”", en ATIENZA BALLANO, Juan Carlos (coord.), Paisaje interior, Fundación Las Edades del Hombre, Salamanca.
- MIQUEL JUAN, Matilde (2007): "“Relaciones artísticas entre Teruel y la Valencia gótica”", en FERNÁNDEZ-GALIANO, Dimas (coord.), Tierras de Frontera, Gobierno de Aragón, Zaragoza.
- RUIZ I QUESADA, Francesc y GÓMEZ FRECHINA, José (2014): "“En torno al retablo de San Martín de Portaceli y sus autores: el Maestro de Martí de Torres y Gonçal Peris Sarrià”", nº 14, en Retrotabulum.
Record manager
Miguel Hermoso CuestaCitation:
Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, "Saint Ambrose" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/246
