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Outstanding works / Renaissance / Diocesan Art Museum

The Virgin's suitors

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"The Virgin's suitors" Diocesan Art Museum, Palencia © Antonio Rubio. Museo Diocesano de Palencia

Category

Painting

Date

Around 1485-1490.

Artist

Pedro Berruguete

Original title

Los pretendientes de la Virgen

Diocesan Art Museum
Palencia
Palencia, Castile-Leon

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The painter Pedro Berruguete depicts a tale of the Virgin Mary prior to the birth of Christ.

The scene is inspired on one of the narratives in the apocryphal gospel that Santiago de la Vorágine included in his "Golden Legend" in the Middle Ages. It tells how, at the age of 14, Mary is commanded by the high priest to leave the temple and marry, which she refuses to do due to her vow of chastity. The painting shows the Virgin accompanied by four young men, the high priest and various suitors.

Among other elements, the painting is outstanding for its meticulous study of faces and hands, as well as for the rich and vivid colours of the cloth, a copy of the late 15th-century fabrics used in religious ceremonies, at court, and among the nobility. The gold panel in the background, a sign of divinity, is typical of the medieval tradition.