Gregorio Pardo (Burgos, ca. 1513-1552) was the oldest child of Felipe Bigarny and his first wife MaríaSáez Pardo. In 1532, when he was about 19, he moved to Zaragoza and joined the workshop of DamiánForment, where he remained for two years, learning the art of drawing and techniques using alabaster. From 1535-1536 he worked in Valencia and, on returning to his native Burgos, continued collaboratingat his father’s workshop until moving to Toledo in 1537, where two years later he married a daughterof Alonso de Covarrubias, chief architect at the city cathedral. He worked with the latter on the ToledoAlcázar (alongside Francisco de Villalpando, Gaspar de Vega and Enrique Egas junior) and, along withFelipe Bigarny and others, executed the relief work on half the choir stalls in the cathedral, with AlonsoBerruguete commissioned to do the other half.

He was undoubtedly a predestined artist, able to make the most of being the oldest son of oneof the most renowned sculptors of his day, as well as working with his father-in-law the architectCovarrubias. Had it not been for his untimely demise, Gregorio Pardo would have become one of themost prestigious sculptors of Renaissance Spain. His work demonstrates that not only did he have agood knowledge of the techniques for working with alabaster and wood, but also that when it came tochoosing and designing his models he always kept within the aesthetic bounds marked by the influenceof the Italian sculpture he would have been familiar with through the works of Castilian sculptors whohad trained in Naples, such as Bartolomé Ordóñez, Alonso Berruguete, and his father, Felipe Bigarny.

However, despite his personal situation putting him at a distinct advantage throughout his career, hefared rather less well with the critics, being largely ignored by the chroniclers and historians of theperiod.