ALTARPIECE OF THE HOLY INFANT'S CHILDHOOD

ICONOGRAPHY 

All scenes appear to form part of a cycle dedicated to the Childhood of the Holy Infant. The scene depicting the Nativity follows an Early Medieval model inasmuch as the Infant's parents are portrayed worshipping the Infant Jesus while other several figures witness the scene from behind a low wall.

Judging from the elegantly-attired standing figure and the horseman in the background, this fragment would have formed part of an Adoration of the Magi scene.

The third scene makes reference to the Slaying of the Innocents: Herod is depicted sitting on a throne to one side with his advisors while soldiers carry out his orders in the face of desperate mothers who try to save their children's lives. To the rear, we can see the miraculous field of wheat that saved the Holy Family in their Flight to Egypt.

Completing the pictorial narration is the orderly, symmetrically-arranged Presentation in the Temple: St. Joseph and Ann the Prophetess are to the right, Simon and Jesus Christ are in the centre and two more male figures are to the left. What is most unusual is the absence of the Virgin Mary.