Gallego, Fernando

Gallego, Fernando (b Salamanca, ?c.1440; d Salamanca, ?c.1550).
Spanish painter, first documented in 1468. He worked mainly in Salamanca, where Palomino says he was born, and was the major Castilian painter of his period. Gallego's sober, impassive style has affinities with that of Dirk Bouts, and it has been suggested that he visited the Netherlands early in his career. His works include a triptych of The Virgin, St Andrew and St Christopher (c.1470) in the new cathedral of Salamanca (one of his few signed paintings), an altarpiece of St Idelfonso (c.1475–80) in the cathedral of Zamora, and ceiling frescos on astrological subjects (c.1480, much repainted) in the Old Library in the university of Salamanca. Gallego had considerable influence in Castile. He is last documented in 1507, but Palomino says he died ‘at an advanced age’ around 1550. One of his followers, Francisco Gallego, was presumably a relative.