Fernández, Alejo

Fernández, Alejo (b ?Germany, c.1475; d Seville, 1545).
Spanish painter, probably of German origin, as he is referred to as ‘Maestro Alexos—pintor Aléman’. He married the daughter of a painter called Pedro Fernández at Córdoba and took her name, but he worked mainly in Seville, where he was the leading painter of the first third of the 16th century. His work, which is well represented in Seville Cathedral, was essentially Flemish Mannerist in style, but it has a personal lyrical quality. One of his finest paintings is the Virgin of the Navigators (c.1530–40, Alcázar, Seville), a rare example of a picture reflecting the Spanish conquest of the Americas.