Pere García de Benavarri
1485
As his name suggests, Pere García was born in Benavarri, a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees. He is documented throughout the Crown of Aragon, suggesting he had an itinerant career. García is first recorded in Zaragoza, where he probably trained under Blasco de Grañén (documented 1422-1459), a painter in the service of the King of Aragon, John II.
After becoming an independent painter, García returned to his native town of Benavarri, where he is documented in 1452. He also worked in Lleida, Barbastro and Barcelona. Not much of García's corpus survives, but a number of works formerly attributed to the anonymous Master of Riglos - including The Crucifixion in the National Gallery - have been associated with García.
Text © The National Gallery, London, 2020