Predella with the Resurrection of Christ

Miguel Ximénez's Predella with the Resurrection of Christ forms the lower narrative band of a larger altarpiece, depicting Christ rising from the tomb as the guards sleep, a subject that asserts the triumph of the divine over death and Roman military power. Predella panels in late fifteenth-century Spanish altarpieces served the narrative function of illustrating the lives of saints or the Passion cycle in horizontal sequence below the main devotional image. Ximénez's handling of this subject reflects his Flemish training in narrative legibility and his Spanish preference for vivid color and heraldic clarity.

The elongated horizontal predella format shows Christ emerging from the tomb in a burst of light, with the sleeping guards arranged below. Ximénez renders the celestial light and the soldiers' slumped forms with Flemish attention to varied pose and expression. The tomb architecture is carefully spatial.