Biography

Spanish sculptor. He is recorded in Valencia from 1500. In 1509 he moved to Saragossa to work on the main retable in the cathedral of Nuestra Senora del Pilar, which is modelled on the Gothic altarpiece in the cathedral of La Seo, Saragossa. The Pilar retable, one of Forment's noblest works, is made in alabaster and has three vertical sections surmounted by Gothic cresting and a central open section that houses the tabernacle (sagrario). The sculpture includes Forment's self-portrait and that of his wife, as well as reliefs on the base and main body depicting the Presentation, the Assumption and the Birth of the Virgin that show his knowledge of Renaissance art.

In Saragossa, Forment also carved the main wooden retable (1511-24), which is Gothic in structure, in the church of S Pablo and that in the church of S Miguel de los Navarros (1518), for which he turned to Renaissance forms. His alabaster retable (1520-34) for the cathedral at Huesca is, however, modelled on his earlier Gothic retable at El Pilar. This work is mature in its masterful composition and expressive qualities. His alabaster retable (1527-09; heavily restored) in the monastery at Poblet, Tarragona, has three storeys, an ornamental cresting and seven vertical sections.