ABSTRACT

Gaspar Becerra is one of those most fortunate ambassadors, in the Spanish case, who fully incorporated Michelangelo’s language through his direct relationship with such outstanding figures as Vasari and Volterra, with whom he worked in Rome. Sculptors like Juan Fernandez de Vallejo and Pedro de Arbulo, who worked mainly in the geographical area of La Rioja, present careers dependent on Michelangelo’s language through their relationship with Becerra, and provide an effective example of a long and profitable influence. This chapter aims to trace those patterns from a very specific case: its presence and rereading in what was an important focus of Spanish sculpture in the late sixteenth century. In the centre of the retable there is a free-standing sculpture of the Pieta, which could have been executed by his disciple Bartolome Hernandez, who remained at his master’s side until the death of the latter, in Madrid, in 1568.