BERRUGUETE, Alonso - b. 1488 Paredes de Nava, d. 1561 Valladolid

Spanish sculptor and painter, the son of Pedro Berruguete, who became the major Spanish sculptor of the 16th century. He was trained in Italy and brought back Italian Mannerist ideas, both in sculpture and in painting. He went to Florence about 1504, where he saw and copied Michelangelo’s lost cartoon for the Battle of Cascina (he is even mentioned in Michelangelo’s letters). He may have been in Rome before returning to Florence for about 5 years before his final return to Spain in 1517. He was, therefore, acquainted with the early work of Pontormo and Rosso at the very beginning of Mannerism. His own work as a painter is close to Rosso, and he probably finished the Coronation of the Virgin (Paris, Louvre) which was left incomplete by Filippino Lippi at his death in 1504.

He was active in Spain principally as a sculptor on such works as the altar of the Irish College, Salamanca (1529-32) and especially the choir stalls in Toledo Cathedral (on the Epistle side), executed 1539-43. These works, like his paintings, show a combination of the influences of Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto and Raphael. He had an extremely successful career, being made Painter to the King on his return from Italy and ennobled in 1559. Other works attributed to him are in Arezzo, Budapest, Florence (Uffizi), Munich and Rome (Borghese). An engraving, possibly unique, is in London (British Museum).