Miguel Ángel y el arte español del siglo XVI: el poder de las imágenes y la transformación creativa

Abstract

This article reviews the influence of Michelangelo’s images on art of Spain in 16th century. One of the early manifestations of this influence can be seen in Alonso Berruguete’s work, who interpreted the Italian master’s forms in pathetic-expressive and Gothic ways. Works of Sebastiano del Piombo, the most prominent artist in the Michelangelo’s entourage, were of particular importance in the Iberian Peninsula. Sebastiano del Piombo’s art inspired the works by Pedro Machuca, artists of Valencia or Luis de Morales. The pivotal role in spreading Michelangelo’s new aesthetics belongs to Gaspar Becerra and El Escorial artists, whose language of grandiose and monumental forms was best suited to express the idea of a triumphant Church and the concept of stability and power of Spain. In the last third of the 16th century Buonarroti’s influence on Spanish plastic arts becomes crucial. The myth of Michelangelo, created by Spanish artists and art theorists, was essential in this. Art of El Greco, whose interpretation of Michelangelo’s images was fundamentally different from Spanish Romanists’ aesthetic concept, stands apart from the contemporary art of Spain.