from the lives of Christ, the Virgin, and St. Wolfgang.
Probably the largest of Pacher’s Virgin altars was that
commissioned for the Franciscan church in Salzburg in
1484 and fi nished in 1498. This structure, greater than
seventeen meters, was dismantled in the baroque period;
its enthroned Madonna, later inserted into an altar by
Fischer von Erlach, and several panels are preserved
(Vienna, Österreichische Galerie). The extraordinary
sum of 3,300 Rhenish gold fl orins was likely the high-
est paid for an altarpiece of this period. Pacher died in
1498, shortly before its completion.
See also Multscher, Hans
Further Reading
Egg, Erich. Gotik in Tirol: Die Flügelaltäre. Innsbruck: Haymon-
Verlag, 1985, pp. 177–189.
Evans, Mark. “Appropriation and Application: The Signifi cance
of the Sources of Michael Pacher’s Altarpieces,” in The Al-
tarpiece in the Renaissance, ed. Peter Humphrey and Martin
Kemp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp.
106–128.
Goldberg, Gisela. “Late Gothic Painting from South Tyrol:
Michael Pacher and Marx Reichlich.” Apollo 116 (1982):
240–245.
Hempel, Erhard. Michael Pacher. Vienna: A. Schroll, 1931.
Koller, Manfred, and Norbert Wibiral. Der Pacher-Altar von
St. Wolfgang: Untersuchung, Konservierung, Restaurierung
1969–1976. Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpfl ege
- Vienna: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1981.
Michael Pacher und sein Kreis: Bin Tiroler Künstler der eu-
ropäischen Spätgotik (1498–1998). Bozen: Südtiroler Lan-
desregierung, 1998.
Paatz, Walter. “Süddeutsche Schnitzaltäre der Spätgotik.” Hei-
delberger kunstgeschichtliche Abhandlungen. Neue Folge 8
(1963): 44–54.
Rasmo, Nicolo. Michael Pacher. London: Phaidon, 1971.
Brigitte Schliewen
PADILLA, MARÍA DE (d. 1361)
The daughter of a Castilian family of the lesser aristoc-
racy, María de Padilla became Pedro I’s favorite in 1352,
shortly after meeting through the Pedro’s chief minister
Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque. María was a member of
the household staff of Alburquerque’s wife, Isabel de
Meneses. In spite of two subsequent marriages, Pedro’s
attachment to María was the most enduring relationship
of his life. It lasted, with brief interruptions, until her
death in 1361.
María’s reputation has remained largely unscathed, in
spite of Pedro’s many excesses. Contemporary sources
generally praise her for her beauty and charm, and for
attempting to soften Pedro’s harshness. A notable excep-
tion is the collection of anti-Pedro ballads, Romancero
del rey don Pedro, in which she is portrayed as cruel
and vengeful. In Romance 9, for example, she is held
responsible for breaking up Pedro’s marriage to Blanche
de Bourbon in 1353. Jealousy leads María to hire a Jew-
ish necromancer to put a spell on a gem-encrusted belt
that Blanche gave the king to wear on their wedding
night. As Pedro puts it on, the belt turns into a snake;
the king, horrifi ed, fl ees from his bride.
Pedro’s refusal to live with his French wife, and his
attachment to María, served as a political excuse for his
enemies and resulted in the alienation of Albur querque.
At the same time, María’s relatives gained ascendancy
at court and replaced Alburquerque and his circle. Juan
Fernández de Henestrosa, an uncle, became camarero
mayor mayordomo mayor, and canciller mayor. María’s
brother Diego García de Padilla owed his election as
Master of the Order of Calatrava to Pedro’s infl uence.
He later became the king’s mayordomo mayor. A half-
brother of María received the encomienda mayor of the
Order of Santiago, while another relative, Juan Tenorio,
became repostero mayor.
María, with Pedro’s fi nancial support, founded the
monastery of Santa Clara at Astudillo in 1354 which,
together with an earlier cession of Huelva, constituted
the only signifi cant settlement the king made on her.
María died in July 1361. She bore Pedro four chil-
dren: three daughters and a son. Immediately after her
death Pedro proclaimed María queen of Castile and
ordered a royal burial at the monastery at Astudillo. The
following year, Pedro hastily assembled a meeting of
the cortes at Seville to declare their son Alfonso, then
two years old, heir to the Castilian throne. Upon the
child’s death the following year, Pedro designated his
fi rst daughter Beatriz his heir. He also insisted that he
and María had been legally wed and had her remains
transferred and buried in the royal chapel at Seville. The
Trastamáran usurpation of the Castilian throne in 1369
made Pedro’s succession arrangements moot. However,
Pedro’s line eventually returned to the throne when his
granddaughter Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of his
and María’s second child Constanza and John of Gaunt,
duke of Lancaster, wed Enrique III of Castile.
See also Pedro I the Cruel, King of CastileFurther Reading
Romancero del rey don Pedro, 1368–1800. Ed. Antonio Pérez de
Gómez. Valencia, 1954.
Clara EstowPAOLO DA FIRENZE
(d. September 1419)
The composer Paolo da Firenze (Tenorista, Magister
Dominus Paulus Abbas de Florentia) was born sometime
in the latter half of the fourteenth century and became a
Camaldolese monk; he died in the order’s monastery ofPACHER, MICHAEL