Bermejo, Bartolomé

or Bartolomé de Cárdenas

born с 1440, Córdoba, Spain

died 1495, Barcelona

Spanish painter.

He was active in Valencia (1468), Aragon (1474–85), and Barcelona (from 1486). Bermejo's earliest masterpiece is the panel painting Santo Domingo de Silos (1474). His Pietà (1490) in Barcelona Cathedral is considered a masterpiece of early Spanish oil painting; the influence of Rogier van der Weyden can be seen in the rich detail and colour. Bermejo cultivated the Flemish style and was considered the most outstanding painter in Spain before El Greco.

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▪ Spanish painter

also called  Bartolomé de Cárdenas  

born c. 1440, Córdoba

died c. 1495, Zaragoza?

      painter, a cultivator of the Flemish style, who was considered the finest painter in Spain before El Greco. His style became the model for many painters of his era.

      Little is known of Bermejo's early activity. Between 1474 and 1477 he worked in Aragon, where he left disciples, and between 1486 and 1495 in Catalonia, where he collaborated with Jaime Huguet, the principal master of that school. His earliest dated work, the panel of “Santo Domingo de Silos” (Prado), painted in 1474 for the church in Daroca, has typical Gothic elements. Under the influence of the Flemish masters these elements gradually disappeared as he became more skilled in the use of foreshortening, in depiction of details, and in the resolution of difficult problems in perspective. The work that demonstrates most clearly his mastery of Renaissance techniques is the “Pietà” of 1490 in the Cathedral of Barcelona, which lacks gold in the background (present in earlier works); instead, a landscape under a stormy sky is painted very much in the manner of the Flemish master Rogier van der Weyden, rich in detail, colour, and life. The figure of the donor (Canon Luis Desplà) in this picture is considered one of the finest portraits painted in Europe in this period.

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