JUAN DE BORGOÑA DE TORO (doc. 1534-1565)."Saint John the Baptist", around 1550-1565.Oil painting

JUAN DE BORGOÑA DE TORO (doc. 1534-1565).
"Saint John the Baptist", around 1550-1565.
Oil painting on panel.
Attached is a report by Alberto Velasco.
The frame has slight faults.
Measurements: 99 x 86.5 cm; 113 x 97 cm (frame).
In the words of Alberto Velasco in his report "We are looking at an altarpiece compartment showing a full-length representation of Saint John the Baptist. The saint appears in the centre of the composition with his characteristic attributes. He is barefoot and wears the usual camel skin, knotted above the left shoulder and exposing part of his torso and legs. Above this, he wears a crimson-toned cloak that does not fit the body and which takes on a prominent flight to the right of the saint, in the classical manner, simulating the effect caused by the wind. The central part of the cloak is open and reveals the left leg, while at waist level it is tied to the camel skin. The opening of the cloak allows the painter to play with light and shadow with his left hand, and resting it on his left thigh, he holds a book with gilt cuts and clasps and covers imitating green velvet, while with his right hand he points to the Agnus Dei or mystical lamb resting on a mound to the viewer's right". He continues: "The painter has paid particular attention to the depiction of detail, as can be seen in the shading of the nasal septum, the flesh tones and the delicacy of the eyebrows. On the face, we can even see how part of the underdrawing emerges. A delicate nimbus, traced with two fine circles made with pigment imitating gold, frames the back of the head. The Flemish-style landscape is developed from a solvent and vaporous gradation of tones, revealing the painter's desire to create an atmospheric effect.
According to Velasco himself, "The author of this work is a master fully in line with the assumptions of Renaissance painting in Castile. The broad flounce of the cloak reveals a certain mannerism that can also be deduced from his chromatic palette, with pastel tones such as those of the cloak or the blues of the background, or the gradations he applies to the landscape and the ground. His mastery of drawing can be seen in the figuration. The characteristics of the work allow it to be placed in a very specific context, namely that of the dissemination in Castile of the art of Juan de Borgoña, the great Renaissance master active in Toledo. The author of the panel is clearly indebted to that painter, to whom we owe figures of similar anatomical rotundity set in landscapes of clear northern origin, such as a Saint John the Evangelist from the convent of Santo Domingo el Real in Toledo". He continues, "In any case, the clearest parallels are to be found in works by Juan de Borgoña de Toro, a painter who should not be confused with the aforementioned Juan de Borgoña who was active in Toledo".
After an exhaustive study, Velasco concludes that "in view of Juan de Borgoña de Toro's career, it is very likely that the present panel corresponds to the final period of his career, once his permanent collaboration with Lorenzo de Ávila had come to an end. This leads us to place it between 1550 and 1565, bearing in mind that Burgundy died between 1550 and 1565. The work, however, clearly refers to the models of Lorenzo de Ávila that Burgundy knew during the many years he collaborated with him, as can be seen in the position of the saint and his facial characterisation, the shading, the configuration of the landscape and the clouds, and the contrasting colour palette. To all this Juan de Borgoña adds some aspects that are not so evident in Lorenzo de Ávila's production, such as the muscular anatomical treatment of the saint, the expressionism of his face or the cloak billowing in the wind, aspects with a mannerist profile that relate his work to the ascendant of Alonso Berruguete in some artists of that environment".