Important set of six tables from the altarpiece of Our Lady of the church attached to the fort-house of San Gregorio, Soria. Sculpture and carving attributed to Juan de Artiaga (died in 1595) and painting and stew by Tomás Ruiz de Quintana as recorded in a document from 1601.



A.Triptych of Our Lady



1.Virgin with Child and Imposition of the chasuble to San Ildefonso. 146.5 x 48cm. Woodworm remains.

2.Santa Ana and San Antonio Abad (fingers of the right hand mutilated). 145 x 35cm. Woodworm remains.

3.Saint Stephen dressed as a deacon and Santiago the Apostle. 143 x 34.5cm. Woodworm remains.



B.Triptych of Saint Joseph



4.Saint Joseph and the Flight into Egypt. Saint Joseph possibly carried in his left hand a staff that has been lost. 153 x 46cm. Woodworm remains.

5.Saint Teresa of Jesus (missing right hand and dart) and Saint Francis of Assisi (missing left hand). 145 x 35cm. Remains of woodworm and important losses of polychromy.

6.Images of a priest and a Dominican saint, possibly Saint Dominic de Guzán (the friar''s right hand is missing). Both figures hold a book in their left hand. 142.5 x 34.5cm. Woodworm remains.





In 1461, D. Diego de Medrano, heir to the estate founded in 1394, requested and obtained permission from Enrique IV of Castilla for the construction of […]a tower house with its barrier for your defense and protection of your farm in the place of San Gregorio which belongs to the land of the city of Soria […]. In the middle of the 16th century, the Dominicans built the church and adjoining monastery. The Gothic-style church with original Renaissance elements suffered a fire and was rebuilt in 1677, as stated in the inscription preserved over the window of the south façade. The church was deconsecrated in the 1970s.



The altarpiece of Our Lady is a work from the late 16th century. It is attributed to the sculptor and carver Juan de Artiaga, active in the diocese of Osma, author of the collateral altarpiece dedicated to S. Juan Bautista of the main altarpiece of the cathedral of Burgo de Osma (between 1578 and 1581). He also worked on many projects for different places in the province of Soria (Calatañazor, Peñalcázar, Abión, Mazaterón, Blacos) and some in Burgos (Gumiel de Izán, Hontangas de Roa).



There is documentary certainty about the painter and potter of this altarpiece. The Provincial Historical Archive of Soria preserves the deed of the commission that the Lord of San Gregorio, Don Diego Medrano Morales, made to the painter Tomás Ruiz de Quintana, a resident of Burgo de Osma, to [...] paint and gild the collateral altarpiece of the church of San Gregorio of this said our diocese that is so ordered by us […]. The license is signed in Burgo de Osma on May 17, 1601 by Francisco Suárez de Ocampo on behalf of the Bishop of Osma, Fr. Pedro de Rojas.



From February 5, 1602, the appraisal, by Bartolomé de Ávila, of the work carried out by Tomás Ruiz de Quintana on the collateral altarpiece of Our Lady, valued at […] one thousand six hundred and sixty reales, is preserved.



The original layout of the altarpiece is unknown. In the Baroque period it is modified and the tables are framed by architectural elements characteristic of this moment. José Arranz Arranz, in The Sacred Renaissance in the Diocese of Osma-Soria, (vol. II), publishes the photograph of the tables corresponding to the Virgin with Child, Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Santiago Apóstol (numbers 1, 2 and 3). with the architecture of the altarpiece of the Baroque period.



Just as in the carving of some figures the work of the master''s assistants can be appreciated, in the gilding and painting the formal and stylistic unity of all of them is evident.



BIBLIOGRAPHY



-PROVINCIAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF SORIA, nº 61, 1601, V, 26: D. Diego López de Medrano, a resident of Soria, […], hires the painting, gilding and stew, […] , with Tomás Ruiz de Quintana, […].

-PROVINCIAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF SORIA, nº 78, 1602, II, 5: Bartolomé de Ávila, painter, resident of Soria, appraises the work of painting, gilding and stew of an altarpiece from the church of San Gregorio (Soria) made by Tomás Ruiz de Quintana, […], in 1660 reales.

-Arranz Arranz, José: The Sacred Renaissance in the Diocese of Osma - Soria, 2 vol., Publications of the Bishopric of Osma - Soria. 1986.

-Campo Muñoz, María Isabel del: The church of the Mayorazgo de San Gregorio. Celtiberia, number 66. July - December 1983.

-LASSO DE LA VEGA Y LÓPEZ DE TEJADA, Miguel: Sorian Artists and Craftsmen of the 16th, 17th Centuries (1509 - 1699). Ed. Maestre, Madrid, 1948

-Rabal, Nicolás: Soria, publications of the Provincial Council. Soria 1958. 153 x 46 cm the largest