PESQUERA, Diego de - b. ~1540 Granada, d. ~1581 Sevilla - WGA

PESQUERA, Diego de

(b. ~1540 Granada, d. ~1581 Sevilla)

Spanish sculptor. He divided his career between Granada (1563-72) and Seville (1572-1580). With a style influenced by the Italian Renaissance and that of Michelangelo, he may have trained in Italy.

For Granada, he worked on the gate of the Sala Capitular at the cathedral and in 1567 at the church of San Pedro. In April 1567 he was commissioned to make a retablo - an altarpiece decorated with reliefs - for a parish church in nearby Ogijares. One of his most important works from that period was the group of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child in Granada Cathedral.

For the Capilla Real (royal chapel) of Seville Cathedral, he produced sculptures of Saint Justa and Saint Rufina. His reliefs for the chapter-house anteroom at Seville Cathedral also survive from his final period.

He also worked on non-sacred themes, in 1574 producing sculptures of Julius Caesar and Hercules for La Alameda. Another work on this theme was his Flight of Mercury on the Plaza de San Francisco in Seville.

The Holy Family with Sts Anne and Joachim

In April 1567 Pesquera was commissioned to make a retablo - an altarpiece decorated with reliefs - for a parish church in nearby Ogijares. The present relief belonged to this altarpiece. A related relief of nearly identical dimensions by the artist, Joachim and Anna before the Golden Gate, remains in situ in a three-level retablo.

The relief shows two couples, the men standing behind their seated wives - Mary and Joseph to the left and Mary’s parents, Anne and Joachim, to the right. Their glances and gestures join at the Christ Child, sprawled across Mary’s lap. The circle of hands - from Joachim’s to Christ’s to Mary’s, and back to Anne’s - connect these figures while focusing the viewer’s attention on the Child.

The name of the painters who painted the relief are not known.

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The Holy Family with Sts Anne and Joachim (detail)

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The Holy Family with Sts Anne and Joachim (detail)

In contrast to the adults, whose stances are stable, the Christ Child wriggles. Off-balance, he causes the adults to react; they lean in to support him with their legs and hands.

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