Pedro Fernández de Murcia

Polyptych of Saint Helena in the treasure of Girona Cathedral , 1521 (together with Antoni Norri)

Pedro Fernández de Murcia , (around 1480 probably in Murcia - to 1523) was a Spanish painter of the Renaissance , mainly in Italy had of the 16th century in the first quarter. He is known by numerous other names, in Italy he was called Pietro Ispano , Pietro Spagnolo or Pietro Francione spagnolo ; in Catalan his name is Pere Fernández . Since his work has stylistic similarities with that of Bartolomeo Suardi, called "il Bramantino ", and since it could not be identified more precisely for a long time, he was also known in the specialist literature under the name Pseudo-Bramantino .

Life

A decisive factor in identifying the painter by name was the finding of documents (Freixas, 1984) relating to the creation of the famous polyptych of Saint Helena in the cathedral of Girona (fig. Above), which experts already unanimously consider the work of the so-called pseudo-Bramantino was accepted, and from then on Pedro Fernández and his colleague Antoni Norri could be assigned.

Nothing is known about Pedro Fernández's training and relocation to Italy. There he stayed first in Lombardy and Milan .

The first documented work is St. John d. Baptist at the Norton Simon Foundation in Pasadena, California, where the influence of Bramantino and Bernardo Zenale is evident.

Fernández is recorded in Rome in 1508 , where he met the art-loving Cardinal Oliviero Carafa , Archbishop of Naples . In agreement with his brother Ettore Carafa, Conte di Ruvo, the cardinal sent the painter to Naples in 1509 to decorate the Carafa family chapel in San Domenico Maggiore . Fernández also created the polyptych of the Visitation for the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie a Caponapoli (today in the Museo di Capodimonte ) and the Madonna and Child and Saints Peter and John the Elder. Baptist in San Gregorio Armeno , which he completed in 1512. Other works for the Neapolitan monasteries of San Gaudioso and Santa Maria Egiziaca all'Olmo are lost today.

Stigmatization of St. Francis , Galleria Sabauda , Turin

Fernández was back in Rome between 1512 and 1516, where he painted the passage to the Calvary for the chapel of the same name in San Domenico Maggiore (Naples). Here he is inspired by the most modern tendencies of Raphael . At this time Fernández came into contact with the Hermit Order of the Amadeitic Franciscans , for whom he painted the vision of Blessed Amadeo Lusitano (fig. At the bottom), which was originally intended for the hermitage of San Michele Arcangelo in Montorio Romano near Rieti and is now in the palazzo Barberini is located in Rome. For the same order he created a whole series of pictures in various places in Latium and Lombardy, among others. a. a polyptych for the convent of Santa Maria de Bressanoro , parts of which are now in the parish church of Castelleone and in the Museo civico of Cremona .

In the late 1510s, Fernández returned to Rome, from where he returned to Spain by ship. Here he worked with Antoni Norri until 1521 on one of his main works, the aforementioned polyptych of Saint Helena for Girona Cathedral. It is the only known work by Pedro Fernández that was created in Spain, together with a polyptych for the parish church of Flaçà (together with Gabriel Pou), which is lost today.

Few other works are now ascribed to Fernández, including a polyptych, which was distributed among various private collections and which was previously thought to be a work by Juan de Pereda (Gudiol, 1963) and to St. Andrew in the Salamanca Museum , formerly ascribed to Juan de Flandes .

Works

Adoration of Jesus with St. Jacob and Philip, and Resurrection of Christ , Palazzo Ala Ponzone

In contrast to his Spanish colleagues such as Juan de Flandes or Pedro Berruguete , who still show strong influences from Gothic Old Dutch painting in their religious art, Pedro Fernández's style is very modern and already strongly Italian, so much so that it used to be the mentioned confusion with Bramantino came about. His painting is characterized by an ascetic , austere, almost sparse simplicity and simplicity. Fernández played a not insignificant role in spreading the “ maniera moderna ” of the High Renaissance in the spirit of Bramante and Raphael to southern Naples, where, according to today's knowledge, he probably exerted a certain influence on Andrea Sabatini, who was also a pioneer of southern Italian painting .

The following list of works is based on the article by Mancini:

• St. John d. Baptist , Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena (California), presumably before 1508
• Adoration of the Shepherds , Collection of the Duca di Villahermosa, Madrid
• Holy Family , formerly in auction in Milan , at Finarte (May 7–8, 1974, N. 80)
• Frescoes (including prophets ) in the Cappella Carafa in San Domenico Maggiore , Naples, approx. 1509–1511
• Polyptych of the Visitation (originally for Santa Maria delle Grazie a Caponapoli, Naples), Museo di Capodimonte , Naples, around 1509–1511
• Vergine ed il Bambino tra i ss. Giovanni Battista e Pietro , in San Gregorio Armeno , Naples, 1510–1512
• Walk to the Calvary , San Domenico Maggiore , Naples, 1513
• Vision of the Blessed Amadeo Lusitano (originally for the hermitage of San Michele Arcangelo in Montorio Romano (Rieti)), Galleria nazionale d'Arte antica, Palazzo Barberini , Rome
• Madonna in Glorie , private collection, Rome
• Stigmatization of St. Francis , Galleria Sabauda , Turin
• Saints Michael, Onofrio and Andreas , Collezione Zeri, Mentana
• San Gregorio Magno (once part of a polyptych), Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Polyptych for the convent of Santa Maria de Bressanoro , parts today in the parish church of Castelleone and in the Museo civico of Cremona
• Assumption of Mary , in the Franciscan Church of San Lorenzo, Pisciarelli near Bracciano
• San Biagio , Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya , Barcelona (Matthiesen Collection)
• Polyptych of St. Helena , Girona Cathedral, dated May 1521 (together with Antoni Norri)

• 

  Vision of Blessed Amadeo Lusitano , Palazzo Barberini , Rome

literature

• Giovanni Previtali: La pittura del Cinquecento a Napoli ... , Turin 1978, pp. 7-12
• Fausta Navarro: “Lo Pseudo-Bramantino: proposta per la ricostruzione di una vicenda artistica”, in: Bolletino d'Arte, LXVII (1982), 14, pp. 37-68;
• Pere Freixas i Camps: “Documents per a l'art reinaixentista català. La pintura a Girona durant el primier terç del siegle XVI ", in: Annalés de l'Institut d'estudios gironins , 1984, pp. 165–188 (Catalan)
• Mina Gregori: "Pseudo-Bramantino (Pietro Ispano)", in: I Campi e la cultura artistica cremonese del Cinquecento (catalog), Cremona 1985, pp. 76-80;
• Paola Giusti, Pierluigi Leone de Castris: Pittura del Cinquecento a Napoli. 1510-1540, forastieri e regnicoli , Naples 1988
• Pierluigi Leone de Castris: “La pittura del Cinquecento nell'Italia meridionale”, in: La pittura in Italia. Il Cinquecento , Milan, 1988, II, p. 711
• Tiziana Mancini: "FERNÁNDEZ, Pedro", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 46 , 1996, online at: "treccani.it" , accessed on April 28, 2019 (Italian)
• Francesco Abbate: Storia dell'arte nell'Italia meridionale, III, Il Cinquecento , Rome 2001, pp. 83-91, "online as Googlebook" (accessed on May 1, 2019)

Web links

Commons : Pedro Fernández  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} Tiziana Mancini: "FERNÁNDEZ, Pedro", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 46 , 1996, online at: "treccani.it" , accessed on April 28, 2019 (Italian)