RELIEF OF THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

POLYCHROME DECORATION 

Today, the visible polychrome decoration is Baroque. The high-quality decoration is rich in gilding and Sgrafitto on gilt in floral motifs and plants painted using brush tips or scratched onto blue, green, pink and red ochre backgrounds, imitation cloth moiré, circles, stripes, etc.. Incarnations are pale and matte. Features of eyes and mouths are simple. This work might well date from the period in which the relief was found in the side chapel, as mentioned by Ara Gil.

The Baroque polychrome decoration covers an earlier one, probably the original, that can be seen in several places. The hair of Saint Joseph and Mary Magdalene are matte gilt, the robe of Nicodemus is burnished gilt, as is the spice jar with its black line. Landscapes are in different shades of green and brown and reds and greens are used to decorate different garments. The Holy Virgin's left hand is covered in three different layers of glaze, the result of at least two earlier interventions.