A private individual acquired the unpublished altarpiece by the Girona Renaissance painter Pere Mates that went up for auction this Thursday in Barcelona. The buyer, who is Catalan, acquired the piece for 11.395 euros -room commission and taxes included- in the auction of the house La Suit Auctions.
The piece, painted around 1525, came froma French private collection. It is a predella (bench of an altarpiece) divided into five compartments, with the main one wider than the rest, and where Christ is represented, flanked by the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, with the Arma Christi in the background . In the other four spaces, Saint Peter, Saint Sebastian, Saint Margaret and Saint Christopher are represented.
Pere Mates is considered as one of the most representative authors of the Catalan Renaissance. Main painter of an important family of artists originally from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, he is documented for the first time in 1512 and dies in 1558. His workshop carried out an important pictorial activity in the lands of the diocese of Gironawith work for the cathedral and the church of Sant Nicolau de Girona, for the monasteries of Sant Pere de Rodes or Sant Llorenç del Mont, and for parishes such as Roses, Vilablareix, Vilamarí, Verges, Segueró or Montagut.
The bulk of his work is preserved in the Girona Art Museum.