NICOLÁS FALCÓ

((Documentado en Valencia entre 1493 y 1530))

NICOLAS FALCO (Active in Valencia between 1493 and 1530) "Transfer of the body of Saint Martin"

Oil on panel. Provenance: Valencia Cathedral, former chapel of the armourers' guild?; Valencia, private collection. Bibliography: Chandler Rathfon Post, “A History of Spanish Painting, Volume VI, The Valencian School in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance”, Harvard University Press, p. 387, fig. 161. Reference bibliography: Gomez-Ferrer Lozano, M., “The Falcos, a family of painters in 16th-century Valencia”, Locus Amoenus, no. 11, 2011-2012, pp. 79-96. Exhibitions: Gomez Frechina, J., “The splendour of painting in Valencia. 15th and 16th Centuries”, Basilica of Santa Teresa. Alba de Tormes, Salamanca, May-October 2024. Nicolas Falco, the initiator of an important saga of artists, was one of the most outstanding figures of Valencian painting in the period of transition from Gothic to Renaissance. His style perfectly combined the main elements of the Gothic tradition, such as the use of gilding, with some of the Italianizing innovations that came to Valencia by the hand of Paolo de San Leocadio; achieving a perfect balance that managed to satisfy the conservative tastes of the clientele of the time. Among his most notable works are the paintings of the main Eucharistic altarpiece of the Convent of La Puridad, whose sculpture and carving work was carried out by members of the Forment family. This important panel depicting the “Transfer of the Body of Saint Martin” is related to another painting kept in the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia (inv. No. 14/90), whose theme is the “Death of Saint Martin”. Both, attributed to the painter Nicolas Falco for years, share the same measurements and a similar compositional scheme and must have been part of the same altarpiece dedicated to the saint of Tours that, in the past, ended up dismantled and dispersed in different private collections. The panel kept in the museum was acquired by the Generalitat Valenciana in 1990. The one shown here could recently be seen in an exhibition dedicated to 15th and 16th century painting in Alba de Tormes. In 1505, Nicolas Falco took charge of the paintings of an altarpiece dedicated to Saint Martin that, paid for by the guild of gunsmiths, was in the cathedral of Valencia. Studied by Gomez-Ferrer (2011-2012), we know that Falco was in charge of gilding and painting the entire sculpture, the stories of the dust covers, the altar front and the doors; the latter identified with the serges preserved in the cathedral with passages from the life of Saint Martin and the Joys of the Virgin. Perhaps this painting and its counterpart in the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia could have been some of the passages painted for the dust covers. In the capitulation of 1497 it is indicated that these scenes were large, three palms wide,This measurement coincides with that of this painting and its companion in the Valencian art gallery. Measurements: 57 x 70.5 cm.