Lot 29: Circle of Diego de Siloe, Spanish (1490-1553) A carved wood and polychrome decorated relief depicting shepherds visited by an angel

carved in high relief, the angel flying down, the first shepherd kneeling before him, with three sheep to the side and trees behind, 25cm high, 34cm wide (9.5" high, 13" wide)

Diego de Siloe was the son of a Netherlandish sculptor, Gil de Siloe (active 1480-1504). He began his career working in Italy and is recorded in Naples in 1516. By 1519 he was back in Spain and commissioned to produce sculpture for the altarpiece of St Anne in the Constable's Chapel in the cathedral of Burgos. Later in his career he worked in Granada, and is known to have been working on the cathedral there in 1528. His Netherlandish heritage and his time in Italy influenced his work resulting in a style that embraced Renaissance iconography but with the typical Spanish treatment of decoration and surface texture.

Related Literature: M. Trusted Spanish Sculpture V&A Museum, 1996, p 31.