Effigy, alabaster, of Doña María de Perea, in the tradition of the work of Gil de Siloe, Spain (Castilian), perhaps Toledo, ca. 1499-1505

Alabaster effigy of Doña María de Perea

Like A.48-1910, this effigy was originally in a chapel of the church of S. Pedro at Ocaña, about fifty kilometres east of Toledo. The church was used for meetings of the Castilian cortes (the local parliament), and for important ceremonial occasions, until the the end of the fifteenth century. The contents of the church were dispersed in about 1906, when the building was declared structurally unsafe (it was demolished in 1907). The effigies may have been acquired by a Madrid dealer, Borondo, and were subsequently bought by the London dealer Lionel Harris, from whom the Museum purchased them. Two other effigies from the same church were bought by the Hispanic Society of America in New York at the same time.

Historical significance: Doña María Perea is shown holding rosary beads, a symbol of her piety. At her feet a small mourning allegorical female figure leans against three books, which may well be intended to represent devotional volumes. Doña María's simple dress, reminiscent of a nun, also implies her lack of ostentation and her religious devotion. Although the author of the tomb is unknown, he is likely to have been a sculptor active in Toledo, and the skill with which the dress and portraits are rendered on both this effigy and that of don García Osorio (doña María Perea's husband) suggests an experienced Castilian sculptor perhaps influenced by Netherlandish prototypes, in the tradition of Gil de Siloe.

The church of S. Pedro was closely associated with the military Order of Santiago, which owned Ocaña. The subject of this effigy was doña María de Perea (d. after 1499), the wife of don García Osorio, a knight of the Order of Santiago, whose effigy is also in the collection (A.48-1910).

Analogies can be made with works by the Toledo sculptor Sebastián de Almonacid, and the tomb can be seen to be in the tradition of the work of Gil de Siloe, who was active in Burgos in the late fifteenth century.

This effigy of Doña María de Perea (d. 1499) is a pendant to that of her husband, Don García de Osorio (d. after 1502). Both effigies were originally placed in the church of S. Pedro at Ocaña near Toledo in Spain, but they were removed when the church was declared structurally unsound in 1906. Doña María holds a rosary, an indication of her piety.

The church of S. Pedro was closely associated with the military Order of Santiago, which owned Ocaña.

Doña María's simple dress, reminiscent of a nun, also implies her lack of ostentation and her religious devotion. Although the author of the tomb is unknown, he is likely to have been a sculptor active in Toledo, and the skill with which the dress and portraits are rendered on both this effigy and that of don García Osorio (doña María Perea's husband) suggests an experienced Castilian sculptor perhaps influenced by Netherlandish prototypes, in the tradition of Gil de Siloe.

A.49-1910