God the Holy Spirit Polyptych

The altarpiece gathers twenty-two scenes that move from the Creation through the life and Passion of Jesus, to Pentecost and the early years of the Church, all tied to the action of the Holy Spirit. The Pentecost panel works as the axis of the ensemble, marking the transition between episodes from the life of Christ and those of the apostles. The tanners' guild of Manresa, whose patron was the Holy Spirit, commissioned it, and the receipt for the final payment, dated 1394, survives. Sources credit the main work to Pere Serra, a central figure of the Italianate Gothic workshop in Barcelona, while the record attributes it to Lluís Borrassà; the central predella panel is a later work by Borrassà, installed during the 1954 restoration. Its mix of realism and fantasy, the placement of figures against landscape and its narrative rhythm stand out, traits of the Italian trecento that here bring the scenes closer to the faithful with a more human dimension. Over its history it suffered cracks, restorations and relocations, including a move during the Spanish Civil War.

Painter

Lluís Borrassà

Date

1394

Medium

tempera, panel

Museum

Santa Maria de Manresa

Movement

Gothic painting

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Jesus Christ, Mary, Pentecost

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