PEDRO DE RUBIALES

(Badajoz, c. 1511 - Rome, 1560) Madonna and Child, c. 1550 Oil on panel, 100X75.8 cm Provenance: Genoa, Nigro collection (as Sebastiano del Piombo) Rome, private collection Bibliography: F. Bologna, Roviale Spagnolo e la Pittura Napoletana del '500, Naples 1959, p. 30. M. Calì, Maestro Pedro de Rubiales pintor in the Spanish churches of Rome, in Prospettiva, 53-56, 1988-1989, pp. 399-406, fig. 5 Of Iberian origin, Pedro de Rubiales' artistic career developed mainly in Italy, where he was known as Roviale Spagnolo or Pietro Roviale. Scarce are the records of his apprenticeship, we know him documented in 1536 in Madrid and in 1540 in Valencia, where in collaboration with Gaspar Requena, he executed the altarpiece of Santa Úrsula for the Convent of the Puridad now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, indicating to us an established professional establishment. However, in 1543 the artist moved to Rome and his style was modulated on the Raphaelesque examples of Francesco Salviati and in particular Perin del Vaga, as can be seen by looking at the Battle of Zama now in the Capitoline Museums. Later, the artist approached the manner of Giorgio Vasari, with whom he worked on the decoration of the Sala Farnesiana in the Palazzo della Cancelleria (1546). Returning to the panel under consideration, Perino's manners appear evident, conditioned also by a Michelangeloesque monumentality likely measured by the examples of Sebastiano del Piombo and Giulio Romano, consequently suggesting a dating likely within the artist's move to Naples in 1548. Reference bibliography: G. Redin Michaus, Pedro Rubiales, Gaspar Becerra y los pintores españoles en Roma, 1527-1600, Madrid 2007, pp. 273-276