Title

Saint Roch

Antonio Vázquez [attributed to] (¿Ávila?, 1485 - ?, 1563)

Generic classification

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Object history

Eric Young (1979) attributed the panels of San Roque and San Sebastián to Santa Cruz, a painter active in Castile in the early 16th century. Young (1979) dated them to 1501, since a document indicated that the master was going to focus his work on the main altar of the cathedral of Avila, however, he died before 1508. Both panels must have belonged to the same altarpiece, since both their compositions, their size and the Gothic framework that frames them coincide. Isabel Mateo (1984) questioned the attribution made by Young and, instead, argued that both paintings had been executed by Antonio Vázquez. To make this assertion, Mateo based herself on the previous studies undertaken by Martín González (1975), who had defined the characteristics of Vázquez. According to Mateo (1984), "the round modeling of the heads, which are pointed at the chin by the prolonged chin, the hairstyle with parting in the middle, the light given by the left, the nimbuses emanating rays from the head, the fine decoration of the border that borders the mantles and, above all, the peculiar way of making the ears, of large size and pronounced relief" would be key to attributing the paintings to Vázquez. Likewise, the limited presence of gold nimbus and the prominence of the landscape in these panels suggest that they were made at an advanced date in the painter's production, probably at the end of the 1530s (Martín González, 1975; Mateo, 1984).

The original location of the panels is unknown, but if we follow Mateo's hypothesis (1984) and think that the author is Antonio Vázquez, it is most likely that they were in Valladolid. Vázquez had carried out works for Pozuelo de la Orden, Simancas, Villabáñez, Tordehumos, etc., so it seems plausible. Nor do we know how they left their original location, perhaps they were first in a private collection, like the Triptych of the Annunciation, which ended up in the Badrinas collection in Barcelona. In any case, in the first quarter of the 20th century the two paintings were bought by Henry Wellcome, who was in the pharmaceutical industry. After Wellcome's death, the two panels remained in his museum: The Wellcome Collection.

Description

A gothic armor frames the composition, in the center of which Saint Roque is represented next to a kneeling angel. The saint wears the pilgrim's staff and shows the wound that the angel is healing. It is striking, however, that the dog with the loaf of bread does not appear, since it is a very characteristic attribute of the saint. The modeling of San Roque's head is round and his ear, of great size and relief, responds to the characteristics of Vázquez's painting. The landscape is reminiscent of Juan de Borgoña and Pedro de Cisneros, where the tree plays a singular role in the composition.

Locations

• XVI^th c.

  province

  Possible origin in the province of Valladolid, Valladolid (Spain)

• First quarter of the XX^th c. - present

  museum

  Wellcome Collection, London (United Kingdom)