Secrets, Secrets Are So Much Fun

Everybody loves secrets. Watching a group of first graders teaches us that the only thing that spreads faster than germs is a juicy secret. This week’s blog looks into 500-year-old secrets of Spanish artists, Fernando Gallego and Maestro Bartolomé.

On the University of Arizona campus is a great resource for any patron of the arts (which by virtue of you reading this blog allows you the privilege of calling yourself a patron). The University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) currently houses eight different galleries ranging the gamut from pre-Columbian statues to 20th century paintings. For visitors there is a $5 fee for entry, but if you are a student or faculty member of the UA then it is FREE ninety-nine (insert laughter now).

The exhibit entitled, Fernando Gallego and His Workshop: The Altarpiece from Ciudad Rodrigo, features 26 massive Spanish medieval oil paintings that in conjunction form an impressive collection of the greatest moments of Jesus Christ’s live and death. The collaboration of Gallego and Bartolomé is unexpected, but very much appreciated. Here are my photos of my favorite pieces.

OK, so the coolest thing about this exhibit was the CSI style of research done on these pieces to determine the authorship of the individual paintings. The pieces were shipped to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas and under the guidance of Chief Conservator Claire Barry some wicked investigations took place. They used ultraviolet light, infrared rays, microscopes, and X-rays to peer under the paint and see the under-drawings.

“Using infrared allows us to examine what’s right underneath the paint to see the artistic process,” Barry said.

Here is an example from Bartolomé’s The Creation of Eve.




And here is Gallego’s Pilate Washing His Hands.



So in the black and white under-drawings you can see the process behind these Spanish artists’s work. For example in Gallego’s Pilate Washing His Hands in the upper left window you can see Pilate’s wife who in the final painting has disappeared. Her presence could have symbolized something that Gallego did not want represented or maybe he just didn’t like women. Who knows?

I was especially moved by the piece entitled, “Chaos” by Maestro Bartolomé.



This is a piece that stops you, grabs your attention, and blows your mind into pieces. The use of symmetry with the ovals filled with angels and the two mandorlas (large almond-shaped enclosures surrounding Holy figures) with God and “Father Time” inside them speak volumes about the artist’s conception of heaven, Christianity, and God.

I highly recommend anyone taking an hour out of their week or weekend to peruse these secret paintings. The UAMA is open Tuesday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Did I mention for UA students and faculty it is completely FREE? Get off your butt and get some art in your life.

For some reason, I felt connected to Gallego’s and Bartolomé’s art because I was able to see their process and therefore I recognized that every artist endures multiple attempts before achieving success. Sometimes you never reach that success, but you continue to try. This deeper connection could also be due to the fact that as I stood in the presence of these works, alone, I felt like these men were sharing their secrets with me. And let’s be honest, the only thing better than telling a secret is being privy to someone else’s dirt.