GONZALO DÍAZ Y NICOLÁS CARLOS

(Activos en Sevilla a finales del S. XV y principios del S. XVI)

GONZALO DIAZ AND Nicolas CARLOS (Active in Seville at the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century) "St. Bartholomew'"

Tempera and gold on panel. Origin: Church of San Miguel de AlcalA de GuadaIra (until 1808); Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Eagle of AlcalA de GuadaIra (c. 1911); Particular collection; Temporary deposit in the Museum of Cadiz (1931-1959); Particular collection. Bibliography: Marchena Hidalgo, R., “A new work by Alejo FernAndez”, Laboratorio de Arte, no. 24, volume I, 2012, pp. 97-111; Mallado, A. “The mural painting of the Eagle: artistic jewel and historical document”, GuadaIra Information, published on 8/12/2012. This imposing panel is a great testimony of Sevillian Gothic painting. Its authorship could be revealed thanks to the study of Rosario Marchena, professor at the University of Seville, who related this work to the mural paintings of the hermitage of Santa MarIa del Aguila in AlcalA de GuadaIra and a Nativity that was also preserved there, missing in the year 1936. The relationship between these three paintings is established by a document that allows their authorship to be established. This is dated March 7, 1508 and in it the painters Gonzalo DIaz and Nicolas Carlos, both residents of the San Salvador de Seville neighborhood, acknowledge having received it from Francisco SAnchez, prioste of the brotherhood of San BartolomE de AlcalA de Guadaira 8,000 maravedIes as part of the payment for an altarpiece that they were making for said brotherhood, located in the San Miguel de AlcalA collation. Precisely, in that neighborhood there was a church of the same name, where in the 15th century a chapel was founded "in honor and reverence of the Apostle Saint Bartholomew." The ruin of this temple would cause its movable property to go to the nearby hermitage of Santa MarIa del Aguila. With all this data, the professor from the University of Seville came to the conclusion that this panel of Saint Bartholomew, due to its stylistic parallels with the Nativity, recognized by Angulo, and the stylistic similarities with the mural paintings of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Aguila were works of Gonzalo DIaz and Nicolas Carlos. The researcher also proposed that this Saint Bartholomew, along with the missing Nativity as a centerpiece, and another missing panel were part of the same pictorial group; perhaps a large triptych. The painting shows Saint Bartholomew in full body, according to his traditional iconography. He is represented as a young man with a dark beard and curly hair, carrying the knife that alludes to his martyrdom and with the demon chained at his feet. This element, common in images of the apostle in the Middle Ages, alludes to an apocryphal episode in which the saint unmasked and expelled a devil from a temple, leaving this space consecrated to Christ. It is presented in a neo-Gothic style frame. Measurements: 214 x 57.5 cm.