THE HOLY CROSS ALTARPIECE

ICONOGRAPHY 

The Passion of Christ is the main protagonist on the central section or body of the altarpiece: here we see Christ struggling to carry the heavy cross with the help of Simon of Cyrene at the moment he sees Veronica, who holds a cloth bearing the imprint of His exhausted face. The lack of secondary characters which are usually represented in this kind of scenes permitted the author to make larger figures, thus giving added emphasis to the scene. Under the figure of Christ, the figures of the Holy Virgin, St. John and two of the holy women are located on the predella. The faces of all the figures reflect their feelings of distress and anguish when faced with the death of their Saviour, whose corpse lies on a shroud. Figures representing the donors of the altarpiece in position of pious devotion observe the scene from the sides, accompanied by their patron saints.

The figures of St. John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, St. Peter, James the Apostle and St. Catherine surround and frame the central scene accompanied by St. Julian and St. Michael. The altarpiece is crowned with a Calvary at the centre of its upper frame.