All newsStorage Room insight: «Coronation of the Virgin», by Gaspar Requena
This month, in the Storage Room insight you can find the Coronation of the Virgin, by Gaspar Requena. The artwork was donated to the museum by Maria Dolors Quintana in 1994.
Gaspar Requena (c. 1515 – after 1585) was a painter active in Valencia during the 16th century. He was originally from Montesa, although he is known to have lived in the Valencian capital after a long stay in Xàtiva.
For a long time, his work was attributed to two painters from the same family: Gaspar Requena the Elder and Gaspar Requena the Younger; however, it has since been established that they were in fact the same artist, who died in Valencia after 1585.
The artwork on display this May can be considered one of the most cheerful in Requena. It is believed that it once formed part of an altarpiece, possibly as a small central panel.
The piece is divided into two sections: the heavenly and the earthly. In the former, the Holy Trinity is depicted crowning the Virgin Mary, in a composition that appears to echo the theme explored by Juan de Juanes in the upper section of the Trinity altarpiece (by the Peraides workshop) in the church of San Nicolás de Bari and San Pedro Mártir in Valencia.
On the lower level, there is a painting depicting full-length figures of saints set against a rugged landscape, with a convent, bell tower and cloister visible in the background. The saints depicted, from left to right, are Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint John the Evangelist, a saint bishop, and Saint Mary Magdalene.