Page 204 - The mystery of faith

Another particular characteristic of Giralte’s work is his focus on detail, such as hairstyles and shoes,
and it is worth pointing out that this fondness for capturing specific minutiae grew out of his repeatedly
making sketches and drawings for silversmiths. To this decorative precocity belongs the beard of Saint
Joachim, a feature of the relief that could have come out of Felipe Bigarny’s workshop, and that is
stylistically similar to one of that artist’s first sculptures for Palencia Cathedral.

Francisco Giralte is defined as an eclectic, an artist so driven to assimilate that he poached elements of
his style from his rival, Juan de Juni, such as the use of tight compositions that depend on a strong sense
of symmetry to maintain narrative focus and clarity in the subject depicted. This manner of arranging
the figures is clearly illustrated in the present relief.

Giralte’s career can be divided into two periods, the first includes his first works executed in the
workshops of Palencia, sculptures of far-reaching effect, which were modelled closely on Berruguete
and which reflect the sense of drama and the movement typical of that master. During this period,
which comes to a close around 1548, Giralte made the altarpiece of the Cisneros in Palencia, one for
the Monastery of Valbuena (lost), and another for the Corral Chapel of the parish church La
Magdalena in Valladolid.

Giralte’s second period is distinguished by his most important Madrid commissions, such as the famous
Chapel of the Bishop, a family chapel in the Plaza de La Paja, a spectacular funerary space that

anticipates the royal sepulchres of El Escorial (Fig. 5). Giralte secured
this commission as a result of the fame he had acquired from his work
on the choir stalls in Toledo Cathedral, which gained him entrance into
the exclusive circle of artists in Toledo who would oversee projects for
the budding Madrilenian court.

Around 1550, Giralte set up his new workshop and home in the heart
of Madrid, close to the parish church of San Andrés and the Chapel of
the bishop, when the city was being promoted as the new capital of the
kingdom. From the beginning of his independent career, he had made a
distinctive speciality of altarpieces – just like Berruguete – and his fame
in this genre led to commissions to design altarpieces for other artists.
Giralte was also hired to design several altarpieces in Madrid (most of
which are now lost), including one for the Church of the Almudena, two
for the Church of Pozuelo de Alarcon, as well as others, such as those
in Barajas and Ocaña (Toledo). The altarpiece from El Espinar survives
and Giralte’s intervention in several others may also be recognized, for
example in the altarpiece in Colmenar de Oreja (Madrid).

The present relief must belong to Giralte’s Madrilenian period,
specifically the 1550s, as it illustrates the artist’s predominating style. It
is probably a section of an altarpiece, and includes some necessary

Fig. 3

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