Saints Gregory the Great and Jerome
1495 - 1500. Oil on panel. Room 052AThis panel and its companion, Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine (P8124), must have been part of the predella of a mid-sized altarpiece. Like most of the works attributed to Pedro Berruguete, they are not documented, but there is no doubt about his hand, which is patent in both the human types depicted in them and, fundamentally, their style. One characteristic of Berruguete’s approach is his interest in transmitting the qualities of the objects appearing in his works, as can be seen here in Saint Gregory’s sumptuous dalmatic, which has images of the apostles Peter and Paul embroidered on the border in the foreground. It is equally visible in the open books, the large cabochons surrounded by pearls and the highlights often found in works by this artist from Palencia. His treatment of surfaces is also representative, including the typical light and dark brushstrokes clearly visible on the saints’ tanned and strongly structured faces and on their hands. Unlike his other depictions of the fathers of the Church, these are presented without halos. Saint Gregory raises right hand and holds a book with his left. He is identifiable by his triple papal crown. Saint Jerome holds the braid of his cape with his right hand and a book with his left and is identifiable through his cardinal’s habit. In this panel, Berruguete also refrains from including the lion that appears in his other images of Saint Jerome, including the one at the Regional Government of Palencia and those on the predellas of altarpieces at the monastery of Santo Tomás and Avila Cathedral (Text drawn from Silva, P.: Donación Várez Fisa, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2013, p. 41).