SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST ALTARPIECE

HISTORY 

Tradition has it that this triptych was used as a portable field altarpiece for celebrating Holy Mass on the journeys of  Juan Pacheco, the first Marquis of Villena (1419-1474) who was also the Lord of Belmonte. The coincidence between the names given to both the altarpiece and chapel in which it is kept (the first chapel to the left of the church) that bears the Marquis's Christian name, would seem to support the claim that he was indeed the person who originally commissioned the work.

However, though the altarpiece's dimensions are rather modest, its fair size and fragility do not appear to make it very suitable for such a task. Neither do any documents exist to support this claim. On the other hand, we do not know the date the altarpiece first appeared in the chapel that was apparently founded in 1451 by Diego Muñoz, an army captain who served under the second Marquis of Villena at the Conquest of Malaga in 1487.

Though there is no doubt whatsoever that the altarpiece originally belonged to the Marquis, it seems more than likely that its original function was probably quite another.