FERNANDO GALLEGO. — Spanish painter, b. ca. 1440. Although his name suggests he was from Galicia, tradition holds that he was born in Salamanca, where most of his activity seems to have taken place. Three signed works remain by him: the altarpiece of the chapel of St Ildefonso in the cathedral of Zamora, completed no later than 1467; the triptych in the new cathedral of Salamanca; and the *Pietà* with two donors, in the Webel collection in Madrid, which is one of his most noble creations.
All these paintings show him to be one of the leading representatives of that Hispano-Flemish school which had its active centre in Salamanca, with influences especially from Petrus Christus and Roger van der Weyden. Many other works are attributed to him, including some grand complexes (altarpiece of Ciudad Rodrigo, now in the Cook collection; altarpiece of St Lawrence in Toro; dismantled altarpiece from the village of Arencillas, etc.). The Francisco G. who is named in documents as the author of the triptych of St Catherine in the old cathedral of Salamanca, completed in 1500, would, according to some critics, be Fernando’s son, though stylistically he does not differ from him. The last record of the artist dates to 1507, when he finished the decoration of the Chapel of the University of Salamanca, of which nothing now remains.