ALTARPIECE OF THE HOLY INFANT'S CHILDHOOD

OBSERVATIONS 

The reliefs were obviously made by a craftsman with an outstanding skill for composition who managed to position the fairly large figures on different visual planes delimited by either a low wall or other screens without one of them affecting the others, something that gives a much greater sensation of depth overall. The craftsman's style is defined by the restrained expressions of the figures and their relaxed postures not entirely without a certain elegance, all of which confer a certain solemnity to the scenes. Figures are characterised by their faces and finely-executed headdresses. Certain details of military harnesses, however, are slightly more lacking in their execution.

In summary, it may be said that the craftsman's work is quite personal. Indeed, the altarpiece bears no similarity to any other manufactured in Brabant workshops. Bearing in mind its format, the more compact character of its reliefs and the artist's compositional skill, the general impression given by the altarpiece is that of proximity despite its very different style to other works from Utrecht, all of which would seem to place its origins in the former Northern Low Countries.