Id  617

Searching/Sorting Title  Altar frontal

Subject  Description: An architectural frame encloses scenes of the annunciation to the shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi. The annunciation to the shepherds is depicted with an angel emerging from a cloud, bearing a scroll inscribed GLORIA IN ECCELSIS DEO. Below him are two shepherds, sheep, and trees. The inscription above reads: COMO PAREÇIO EL ANGEL A LOS PASTORES (How the angel appeared to the shepherds). The Adoration of the Magi is depicted with the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, seated on a couch before a building with an ass and ox. The Christ Child extends his hand to a vessel held by a bearded, kneeling Magus, followed by two Magi wearing hats, one beardless, both holding vessels. Above is the star, and behind the Magi is a groom, crop in hand, holding the reins of three horses in portal of building. The inscription above reads: COMO ESTA ENÇAECIDA SANTA MARIA (How Holy Mary is delivered of a child) and GASPAR MELCHOR BALTASAR REIES.

Eschutcheons of the Ayala and Guzman families in borders.

Date  1396   Century  14th   Style/Period/Genre  Gothic

Work Type  painting on panel   Measurements  h. 85.2cm, w. 259.2cm

Original Country  Spain   Region  Castile - Leon

Original Location  Quejana: Alava Dominican Convent

Original Structure  Ayala chapel

Historical Context  Retable and altar frontal made for the Ayala chapel in the Dominican nuns' convent at Quejana (Alava).

Patrons and others  Pedro Lopez de Ayala and Mari Ramirez

Inscription gives the names of the donors Don Pedro Lopez de Ayala and Doña Leonor de Guzman, his wife, and the date 1396.

Related Work  Retable, left section

Current Repository  Chicago: Art Institute Museum

Repository Number  28.817

Secondary Sources  Review of Castro, C. de, Provincia de Álava (1915) , 155 ff.
A Fourteenth Century Spanish Retable and Altar Frontal , 95 ff., figs.pp. 89, 95-97.
History of Spanish painting , 126 ff., fig. 126.
Historia del arte hispánico , 168 ff., figs. 286-289.
Arma Christi , 3.ser. V (1955): 48.
Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection , 422, 438, figs.pp. 92-93.

Photo Repository #  30 C43 MArtIn R4,1 A 039252

Related Records(listed in the fields above):

Retable, left section Review of Castro, C. de, Provincia de Álava (1915) A Fourteenth Century Spanish Retable and Altar Frontal History of Spanish painting Historia del arte hispánico Arma Christi Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection

Other Related Records:

Retable, left section (Related Work)