Triptych of the Descent from the Cross

Bernat Martorell created this work around 1445, now in the National Museum of Ancient Art. The painting reflects the artistic culture of the Early Renaissance, when European painters were developing increasingly naturalistic approaches to representation through the study of perspective and natural observation. 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 triptych format enabled a complex devotional program across three interconnected panels, with the hinged wings allowing the work to be opened for liturgical celebrations and closed during penitential seasons.