Master Ferrand González (Activo en Toledo entre 1383 – 1410)

Master Ferrand González (Activo en Toledo entre 1383 – 1410)
"Madonna and Child"

Polychromed and gilded alabaster sculpture. Incised and gilded signature in gothic letters on the front of the plinth “Maesttro Fernan: Entallador”.

Marvellous sculpture in which the Madonna is represented in a standing position, holding the Christ Child in her left arm.
She wears a gorgeous brocade tunic with red and gilded motifs, cinched beneath the breast with a band which we can only see as it hangs down at one side, showing elaborate work of sculpted square shapes with alternate red and gold decoration, the last of these is topped with a four-petalled flower. This decorated band is almost identical to that employed by the sculptor on the dress on Elvira Álvarez de Ceballos’ tomb, which is located at the Quejame Monastery in Álava.

A cloak rests delicately on Mary’s shoulders, blue on the inside and decorated with large gilded stars on the exterior. The clothing rests on her feet forming gothic folds, beneath which the tips of her shoes stick out delicately.

The Child wears a tunic and cloak that match those of the Madonna. Both have a sweet smile and exchange gestures of affection, the Child raising His little hand towards Mary’s face, who rests her right hand on the Child’s chest with a maternal gesture.

Elegant and delicate to the smallest detail, as we can see in the minute buttons which are on the sleeve of the tunic.

María Teresa Pérez Higuera, in “Ferrand González y los sepulcros del taller toledano (1385 -1410)” (Ferrand González and the tombs of the Toledo workshop) indicates that at the end of the 14th century they were doing a great deal of work at Toledo Cathedral, which is decorated in such a way that it required the employment of sculptors or “entalladores” (carvers), who, of course, also worked outside the Cathedral. The existence of a workshop that made tombs in the city of Toledo in the late 14th century has been established without doubt. It was run by Ferrand González, who by that time was a well-known name in Castilian gothic sculpture.

Pérez Higuera also mentions in her publication that: “There is a reference to a Ferrand Gonçales in the book of Works and Manufacturing of Toledo Cathedral, 1383, with delivery notes by the sculptor on different capitels, which were used in the choir screen that was made around that time.

This Ferrand Gozález can be identified with the sculptor who made the tomb for Archbishop Don Pedro Tenorio at the Saint Blaise Chapel in Toledo Cathedral in 1399, and so it can be argued that his activity between these two dates can be proven completely, also by another series of tombs which are attributed to him as well as other work that he sculpted in the Cathedral.”

González is also the sculptor of the tomb of the Bishop of Plasencia, D. Vicente Arias de Balboa, which is located in the same Saint Blaise chapel. The account book of the same chapel shows payments to the sculptor for the sculptures of the Annunciation on the façade and the polychroming of the same sculpture.

Another series of sculptures was made by him and his team and these are:

The tomb of Juan Serrano in Guadalupe as can be seen in the note by P. Germán Rubio: “…The famous Toledan stoneworkers, Pedro Sánchez and Ferrant Gonzalez, who worked on D. Juan Serrano’s tomb from 1403-1407, the last secular prior of Guadalupe..”.

Also, Diego de las Roelas’ tomb at the Cathedral of Ávila, the Ayalas’ tombs in their funerary chapel at the Quejana Monastery, Álava, that of Juan Alfonso de Ajofrin in the Monastery of Saint Dominic of Silos in Toledo, that of the Figueroa family in the Church of Saint Mary in Écija (Seville), and that of the Pérez Guzmán family in Saint Andrew’s Chapel in the Cathedral of Seville, among others.
Height: 53 cm.