The Judgement of Saint George

Bernat Martorell's Judgement of Saint George, painted around 1435 for the Louvre, forms part of the artist's celebrated Saint George altarpiece. Martorell was the leading painter in Catalonia during the second quarter of the fifteenth century, and his George panels are masterpieces of the International Gothic style in Spain. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting. The tension between Gothic grace and Renaissance structure gives art of this period a distinctive energy.

The trial scene features Martorell's characteristic rich colors and detailed rendering of architecture and costume, with the compositional drama heightened by expressive gestures and the careful arrangement of figures within the judicial setting.