Page 198 - The mystery of faith

FRANCISCO GIRALTE

(Valladolid c. 1500 – 1576 Madrid)

20. The Meeting at the Golden Gate

Pine, carved in high relief
135 x 114 cm x 21 cm (53 ? x 44 ? x 8 ¾ in.)
PROVENANCE: H Lüttgens, Aachen; Mrs Clifford Ambrose Truesdell, New York

Spain at the end of the fifteenth century and well into the middle of the sixteenth was overflowing
with churches and altarpieces, as well as tombs, choir stalls and facades, all of which were
decorated with sculptures and reliefs. For sculptors this level of development was unprecedented,
both in the quantity of works produced and in their overall quality. This large pitch-pine relief
depicts the moment the aged Anna met her future husband. Joachim. Despite their advanced age, the
pair would be blessed with a son, Joseph, who would later serve as father to the infant Jesus.
Stylistically, the relief is typical of Francisco Giralte and must have been carved originally as part of one
of the many large altarpieces made during this period or, since it is without polychrome, it may have
formed the decorative backing above a series of sumptuous choir stalls.

We do not know if Giralte’s father – who must surely have been French with such a surname – first
came to Palencia in search of greater fortune before his son arrived in the city.1 The younger Giralte is
known to have had firm ties to Palencia at an early date, where he probably owned land. Certainly
Francisco established his first professional contacts in the city where he received an early commission.
In any case, it is known that Francisco was married in Palencia in 1547 and that he had a sister, who
married the sculptor Manuel Álvarez, a pupil of Alonso Berruguete, as indeed, was Francisco Giralte
himself. After having trained in his master’s workshop between 1532 and 1535, Giralte went on to
develop his own style, which, while distinct in many ways from that of Berruguete, is nevertheless seen
as faithful to the work of the Castilian master.2

As the director of his own workshop, Francisco Giralte received commissions for numerous altarpieces
throughout his entire life, assuming a risky management strategy, technically as much as artistically,
and, in some respects, economically as well, because the demand for such works far outstripped the
capacity of Giralte’s workshop.

The aesthetics of The Meeting at the Golden Gate exhibited here illustrate the incorporation of
successive influences that are both recognizable in and indicative of the work of Giralte. We can analyse
this adoption of models: the shortened proportions of the figures and the five heads are all characteristic
of Giralte, and both features are emphasized by the square support, which indicates that the relief may
originally have been part of the lower mid-level of a large retablo, or the backing of choir stalls, as said
above.

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