THE PASSION ALTARPIECE

POLYCHROME DECORATION 

Poor quality polychrome decoration in flat colours (blues, reds, pinks, purples, etc.) with borders and some gilt details picked out. Presence of certain decorative motifs such as stars in the mantle of the Holy Virgin, large leaves on the tunic of Saint John and a coarse imitation of badly-repaired furs worn by one of the men standing at the foot of the Cross. Flesh tones are very high with flushed cheeks and accentuated beards although decoration has been more carefully applied to main characters. The figure of Christ is covered abundantly in blood.

Certain characteristics of the underlying polychrome decoration may be sensed under the current decoration, though we ignore whether this is original or that applied when the altarpiece was re-polychromed in the XVII century. We can also see raised motifs (Sgraffito? Applied brocade?) on the mantle of the figure wearing the Jewish conical hat, the tunic of John the Apostle and the gold zigzag motifs on the blue tunic of the first woman on the left. We can also see an undercoat of burnished gold in those places where the paint has flaked and fallen off.