The Spanish medieval painter Ferdinando Gallego was one of the leading painters in Castile in the fifteenth century. His art is characteristic of the so-called “Hispano-Flemish style” that flourished in Spain. The influence of Flemish art was predominant, introduced through the trade of luxury items from the Netherlands and northern artists traveling there. Talented Spanish artists like Gallego experimented with Flemish pictorial sources and manners to forge highly original styles and create inventive works like the present triptych, which was likely made for private devotion, or as a traveling altar.
Gallego depicts the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ on her lap, meeting his cheerful gaze with downcast eyes. Her somber mood seems to foresee the Crucifixion, as does the child’s gesture. He holds up his arms to display his palms and crosses his legs to show the bottoms of his feet, exposing the places where his body would be wounded in the crucifixion. The figure of Saint Eustace, shown at lower left kneeling before a stag with a crucifix between his antlers, might be the patron of the work.
He is shown next to a coat of arms and is the only figure depicted in contemporary dress. While he prays before the miraculous stag, Eustace’s gaze is also directed toward the Virgin and Child. Above him is Saint Andrew, with the x-shaped cross of his martyrdom. On the right is Saint John the Baptist, with a lamb atop his book, and Saint Catherine, kneeling before the spiked wheel of her martyrdom. The figures are exquisitely painted in grisaille, which gives the illusion that they are carved of stone.
Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.
