ALTARPIECE OF THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN AND THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST

OBSERVATIONS 

In various altarpieces from the early years of the 16th Century, the characteristics of the workshops of Brussels and Antwerp can be seen to coexist, which makes it difficult to determine their origin; the Telde altarpiece is a good example of this.

Although it has hallmarks from Antwerp, Suarez Quevedo considers it to be the work of a workshop in Brussels from around 1515, identifying one of the images on the pillars as Saint Gudule, patron of the cathedral of this city. However, Professor Negrín Delgado associates some of its characters with other works marked in Antwerp, such as the carvings of Era de la Mota in which the influence of the most outstanding workshop in Brussels, that of the Bormans, was recognised, and attributes them to an artist trained in these surroundings and active in the first decades of the century.

On the other hand, its sinuous profile is more typical of Antwerp altarpieces from the second third of the century, which leads to an ambiguous chronology that the documentation does not satisfactorily explain.