The Meadows Museum and The National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) present the first major U.S. exhibition dedicated to Spanish sculptor Alonso Berruguete (c. 1488–1561). Over the course of his career, which included a period in Italy under the influence of Michelangelo among others, Berruguete emerged as sixteenth-century Spain’s most innovative artist. His work was grounded in the traditions of his native Spain and refined by exposure to the height of the Italian Renaissance; through his natural talent for anatomical precision, dynamic movement, and psychological insight, he revolutionized Spanish art.

While he is known today primarily as a sculptor, during his lifetime Berruguete was widely respected for his work across a variety of media. This exhibition demonstrates the breadth of Berruguete’s practice, displaying six drawings (nearly half of all drawings confidently attributed to him), three paintings (including rare paintings from his Italian period), and 24 sculptures, including almost two dozen of the best examples from the retablo for the church of San Benito in Valladolid, which is widely considered the artist’s magnum opus.

A video will also be presented, which brings to life his works in Spain that cannot travel, such as those in the Toledo cathedral. An introductory gallery featuring works by his father - an accomplished painter in his own right—and other Spanish artists of the era will provide a view of the artistic landscape in which Berruguete operated. In the Dallas venue, curated by the Meadows Museum’s Mellon Curatorial Fellow, Wendy Sepponen, this will also include selected works from the Meadows’s permanent collection that will put the artist into dialogue with his Spanish contemporaries.

The exhibition will be on display through January 10, 2021.