Title
The Prophet Balaam; David, King and Prophet; Solomon, King and Prophet; The Prophet Zechariah
painter
Maestro de Riofrío [attributed to] (Active in Ávila in the last quarter of the fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century)
Generic classification
PaintingObject
PaintingDate
ca. 1500Cultural context / style
Gothic and Renaissance elementsDimensions
34,7 x 25,5 inMaterial
PanelTechnique
Oil PaintingProvenance
Church of Santa María de Villalva, Cerezo del Río Tirón (Cerezo del Río Tirón, Burgos, Spain)Current location
Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University (Greenville, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
P.60.242-P.60.245Object history
These paintings were originally part of the base of an altarpiece that no longer exists. Post (1947) and Gudiol (1956) attributed the panels to the Master of Riofrío,“who was possibly the most talented Spanish follower of Pedro Berruguete”(The Frick Digital Collection). According to information provided by the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University, the four panels come from the Church of Santa María de Villalva in Cerezo del Río Tirón (Burgos).
This church was looted during the War of Independence, at which point its deterioration began. In 1928, its dilapidated condition led to the transfer of the 15th-century altarpiece to the Church of San Nicolás, also in Cerezo del Río Tirón (Burgos). We do not know whether the four panels depicting the prophets were ever housed in the Church of San Nicolás or whether they were dispersed following the altarpiece’s relocation. In any case, in 1947 they left the country and ended up in the hands of Ferdinand Pardo, who ran an antiques business on Boulevard Haussmann (Paris, France). In 1960, the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University purchased the four panels from Pardo; they are currently housed at the institution (Greenville, United States).
We are grateful for the information provided by the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University, especially to Rebekah Cobb.
Description
These four painted panels depict kings and prophets from the Old Testament. The Master of Riofrío was a follower of Pedro Berruguete, a fact that becomes evident when these four panels are compared with the bench of the main altarpiece in the Church of Santa Eulalia (Paredes de Nava, Palencia). The four prophets are dressed as if they were noble knights of the period. Likewise, the faces, the jewelry, and the gilded background are reminiscent of Pedro Berruguete’s compositions.
Locations
Last quarter of the XVth c. - First quarter of the XXth c.
Mid XXth c. - ca. 1960
dealer/antiquarian
Pardo Gallery, Paris (France) *
ca. 1960 - present
Bibliography
- GUDIOL RICART, José (1955): Pintura gótica (Ars Hispaniae, vol. IX), Editorial Plus-Ultra, Madrid.
- POST, Chandler Rathfon (1947): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 9 (The Beginning of the Renaissance in Castile and Leon), nº 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 383-386.
- REYNOSO, Rondall (2006): Art and Christian Fundamentalism: the history of the Bob Jones University Collection, Tesis doctoral. School of Art and Design Pratt Institute, Nueva York, p. 136.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "The Prophet Balaam; David, King and Prophet; Solomon, King and Prophet; The Prophet Zechariah" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/559
The Prophet Balaam; David, King and Prophet; Solomon, King and Prophet; The Prophet Zechariah
