Title

Assumption of the Virgin. Altarpiece with the Apotheosis of the Virgin

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Object history

This painting occupies the central part of an altarpiece dedicated to the Apotheosis of the Virgin, made up of sixteen panels, fifteen of which are paintings, while one of them houses the sculpture of the Virgin and Child as Queen of Heaven, in the upper body of the central street. Gilman Proske estimated, at least with respect to this sculpture, that it was probably executed in León at the end of the 15th century (Gilman Proske, 1951). For his part, Franco Mata endorsed this hypothesis about this sculpture, by virtue of various stylistic details of this titular image of the altarpiece, which, in his opinion, brought the carving closer to other sculptures preserved in the museums of León and Astorga (Franco Mata, 2010, p. 222).

The truth is that the altarpiece offers certain doubts, since far from forming an organic whole, it could well be an altarpiece recomposed in some of its parts, as may be the case of the sculpture at the top. There are also certain inconsistencies in the masonry of the altar, both from the stylistic point of view of some motifs and others, as well as in the fact that some parts of the altarpiece do not respond to a regular architectural layout; see, in this sense, the fact that the bench or predella does not adequately fit with the upper streets of the altar. The truth is that throughout history it has been common for altarpieces to be altered or recomposed, sometimes with pieces from different places, either for functional reasons, when they changed location, or for commercial reasons when they were put on the market.

The Hispanic Society of America associates the making of this altarpiece with a master from Leon, finding similarities with the master of Palanquinos. However, Post questioned this ascription, he pointed out other stylistic affiliations, which brought him closer to a master who worked in Agreda (Soria): the master of the San Lorenzo Altarpiece of the aforementioned locality (Post, 1933, pp. 464-467). He argued such kinship based on the great similarities in the tables dedicated to the saints that are noticed between this altar of the Hispanic Society with the saints that appear in the mentioned Altarpiece of San Lorenzo de Ágreda -altar that at the moment is preserved at the foot of the nave of the epistle in the basilica of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros de Ágreda (Soria). This altarpiece of San Lorenzo was previously located in the disappeared church of San Pedro Apóstol of the same locality (Cardona Jiménez, 2006, pp. 86-91). The rooms in which the saints are illustrated, the designs of the tiles, very similar in both altars, the type of windows and landscapes that appear in such chambers were, in Post's opinion, especially revealing. On the other hand, the predella shows one of the favorite motifs of Fernando Gallego and his circle, such as the paired apostles, which confirmed, in Post's opinion, that its maker must have been a master follower of Gallego, who worked in Agreda and its surroundings, and was also responsible for the San Lorenzo Altarpiece that is still preserved in this town in the province of Soria (Post, 1933, pp. 464-467).

It is interesting to point out that in the same basilica of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros de Ágreda (Soria), another altarpiece is preserved, known as Retablo de San Vicente Mártir, by virtue of the titular image, of later period, XVII century, that today occupies the center of the same one. This altar, according to popular tradition, also came from the disappeared church of San Pedro Apóstol. It includes some panels relating to the Life of the Virgin: The Betrothal, Flight into Egypt and Circumcision, as well as a central upper panel dedicated to theAssumption of the Virgin, whose existence was unknown until 1990, as it was hidden behind modern pinnacles. We know that around 1890 the church of San Pedro partially collapsed, and it was necessary to distribute its assets among the churches of San Juan Bautista, Santa María de Magaña and Nuestra Señora de los Milagros, in the same locality. In addition, in the years 1891 and 1892 payments were made to several artisans for the restoration works carried out on the San Vicente Mártir Altarpiece, as was also done on the aforementioned San Lorenzo Altarpiece, from the same source. The objective of such interventions was "to restore the drawing of the Gothic panels, the gilding, the stars of the dust cover, the canopies, the saint's pedestal and, in general, to replace old pieces with new ones" (Cardona Jimenez, 2006). (Cardona Jiménez, 2006, pp. 141-150). Those scenes related to the Life of the Virgin that we see in this altarpiece of San Vicente Mártir are not present in the altarpiece of the Hispanic Society, where her life is also illustrated, but from other scenes, the attire of the Virgin is similar in the tables of New York and in these of Ágreda, the doubt that arises is: Could original works of the disappeared temple of San Pedro de Ágreda have been recomposed in those works of 1891-1892 and given place to different altarpieces, distributing their tables among them, and passing some of them to the art market? Does this altarpiece of the Hispanic Society come from Agreda?

In any case, what we do know is that at the beginning of the 20th century the current altarpiece of the Hispanic Society, with the same conformation it has today, was part of the collection of Adolphe Singher, located in the French town of Le Mans, as it was sold in Hotel Drouot, Paris, in 1912, along with other works from the Singher collection. In that catalog appears the altar referred to as No. 458, described as a large altarpiece: "It is formed in the center by a statuette-applique of carved, painted and gilded wood, representing the Virgin standing on a console and protected by fifteen panels of painted wood, four of which, in the upper part, show two saints with their attributes. The five central panels depict St. John the Baptist standing holding the lamb lying on a book, the Annunciation, the Assumption of the Virgin, the Adoration of the Magi and St. Lawrence standing, holding the grill and an open book. At the bottom, six panels each present two saints with their attributes, arranged on a background that simulates a rich damascene cloth. These panels are separated from each other by carved and gilded wooden uprights, which simulate Gothic buttresses, and by traverses molded or adorned with garlands" (Leman, 1912, no. 458. Translated from the original French text).

The description of the altar, of which this panel is a part, was accompanied in the aforementioned catalog by a photograph in which the remarkable size of the ensemble can be appreciated; however, the text does not offer any information about the provenance of the work. A copy of this catalog, preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France offers a handwritten detail in the margin of the piece that perhaps can be revealing of the trajectory followed by the set, in handwritten note appears annotated "Madrazzo 10.000" Also under the photograph appears written "10.Would it be sold for 10,000 francs in 1912 in Paris? Would the painter, collector and art dealer Raimundo de Madrazo, in those years in Paris, buy it, then, and through him it could pass to Archer Milton Huntington, founder of the Hispanic Society of America?

Description

In this panel of the Assumption of the Virgin, which appears in the central body of the altarpiece. The mother of God appears surrounded by a celestial court composed of six angels arranged symmetrically on both sides of her figure; she wears a blue skirt with gold trim, and is covered by a crimson mantle. The painting seems to have undergone some retouching.

Locations

• Unknown date

  region

  Possible provenance in the province of Soria, Soria (Spain)

• 1912

  private collection

  Adolphe Singher, Le Mans (France) *

• post. 1912 - present

  museum

  The Hispanic Society of America, New York (United States)