Becerra Gaspar
(b ?Baeza, c. 1520; d ?Madrid, Feb 1568).
Spanish painter and sculptor, also active in Italy. He was a major
figure in Spanish art during the third quarter of the 16th century;
he went to Italy around 1545 and, although there is no evidence that
he collaborated with Michelangelo, he undoubtedly studied his works,
and he was responsible for introducing into Spain Michelangelo’s
painting style as seen in the Last Judgement (Rome, Vatican, Sistine
Chapel; ) and in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican Palace, Rome.
There are two drawings by Becerra (Madrid, Bib. N. and Prado) of the
Last Judgement executed between his marriage in Rome on 15 July 1556
and his return to Valladolid in 1558. According to Juan de Arfe,
Becerra introduced to Spain ‘figures more fleshy than those of
Berruguete’, and Francisco Pacheco wrote that he followed
Michelangelo in painting ‘figures that are larger and fuller’.
Becerra was also a follower of Vasari, although his style was rather
more restrained and with a distinctive Spanish flavour (Post).
According to Vasari, Becerra and another Spaniard, Francesco
Roviale, were among the many assistants he employed to paint the
scenes from the Life of Paul III, commissioned in 1546 by Cardinal
Alessandro Farnese, for the room of the Palazzo della Cancelleria,
Rome, that later became known as the Sala dei Cento Giorni. In Rome
Becerra also painted the Birth of the Virgin (1548–53) in the della
Rovere Chapel, Trinità dei Monti, under the direction of
Michelangelo’s pupil Daniele da Volterra.
