Page 20 - The mystery of faith

Fig. 3a Fig. 3b

[…] in figure sculpture Spanish taste tempered both Flemish realism and garrulousness with a measured
dignity and absence of overemphasis […]. The Baroque tendencies of northern Gothic art, which in
Germany led to such pyrotechnics of puffed and crumpled and twisted folds, exaggerated movement and
gesture, and hysterical emotion, were cut short in Spain before they developed.6

Cut short, that is, by the arrival of the Italian Renaissance. We do not need to leave Burgos in order to
witness the transformation. In Burgos, the Italian Renaissance style was introduced by another northern
artist, Felipe Bigarny (Felipe de Borgoña) of France (b. diocese of
Langres c. 1475–d. Toledo, 1542). He arrived in Burgos in 1498
and carved three stone panels for the retrochoir of the cathedral,
including a Crucifixion, a Deposition and a Resurrection.
Bigarny’s composition is spacious and lively, and the figures are
expressive and more accurately proportioned than those of the
late Gothic artists working in Burgos.

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F elipe Bigarny was an artistic entrepreneur who committed
himself and his workshop to major projects in various
locations. His work for the cathedral chapter (cabildo) in Palencia
is instructive, though by no means unique, as to how enormous
polychromed altarpieces were brought to completion. The design
for the main altarpiece of Palencia Cathedral (Figs. 3a, b) was
designed by the entallador Pedro de Guadalupe and completed in

Fig. 4

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