Burning of the Heretics (Auto-da-fé)
circa 1490
On wood, dimensions: 154 x 92 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid


The painting is a realistic representation of the execution: all details including the half-reprieve (death by strangling before burning) and the expiators in conic hats are shown. In the period of Berruguete the heretics usually were Moriscos converted to the Christian faith and accused for secret Muslim cult.

In the composition of the painting, in the harmony of colours, in the representation of the platform, the influence of innovations of Italian Quattrocento can be clearly observed. In fact he worked in Italy, in the court of Federico da Montefeltro, Prince of Urbino, in the early 1480s together with Piero della Francesca, Melozzo da Forli and Luca Signorelli. He was basically a Renaissance painter with strong Spanish-Flemish traditions.