AN UNKNOWN WORK BY PEDRO BERRUGUETE IN SEGOVIA: THE ORIGINAL ALTARPIECE FROM THE CAVE OF SANTO DOMINGO IN SANTA CRUZ LA REAL

FRANCISCO EGAÑA CASARIEGO

The celebrated Crucified Christ from the Convent of Santa Cruz la Real in Segovia, attributed to Pedro Berruguete, does not constitute, as has been considered to this date, a devotional work commissioned independently for the sacristy of the convent, but rather the central panel of the altarpiece intended for the most emblematic part of the convent: the Holy Cave. An anonymous painting from the XVII Century, semi-abandoned in the chorus of the church since the mid-nineteenth century confiscations of church properties, constitutes the graphic document which, in the absence of literary testimonies, helps to document this altarpiece -lost or dispersed- of the Palentine artist for Segovia.