January 9, 2021 6:30 am

Berruguete’s Mystical Wood Sculptures, in Dallas

On offer: Wiggling angels, an anguished Abraham, and densely adorned altarpieces

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Alonso Berruguete (Spanish, c. 1488–1561), Reconstruction of a pediment with soldiers, sybils, and grotesque decoration, 1526–1533. Polychromed wood with gilding.

Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid, CE0271/042, 045, 068, 069, 082, 083, and 084. Image © Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid; photo by Javier Muñoz and Paz Pastor.

This week, Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain ends at the Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University’s superb art gallery. Berruguete (1488–1561), though enigmatic on many fronts, is pivotal in the history of Spanish art, but he’s mostly unknown here.

In a few words, Berruguete brought the aesthetics of the Italian Renaissance to Spain.