El retablo de Damián Forment

The Renaissance altarpiece of the monastery is a work in alabaster of architectural composition, made by the sculptor Damian Forment between 1527 and 1529, commissioned by the abbot Pedro Caixal during the reign of Charles I. Although it was placed before the date stipulated in the contract, the project was involved in a financial controversy. Forment was receiving the agreed payments until May 1530, at which time he was still owed 960 ducats. That same year, Abbot Caixal was implicated in a financial scandal that landed him in court proceedings, and the monastery community refused to continue with the payments. They accused Forment of having inflated prices and of bribing the abbot with additional sculptures. Although the sculptor filed a lawsuit, even in 1570 his granddaughter, Ursula Garcia, was still claiming the debt without success.

After the exclaustration of 1835, the altarpiece suffered significant damage. It was not until 1940 that a restoration process was undertaken. The altarpiece, made in the "Romanesque" style, responds to a Renaissance architectural design decorated with grotesques. It was an innovation in Catalan art, introducing for the first time in a clear way the artistic language of the Renaissance.

The structure of the altarpiece is organized in a bank, a sotabanco and three bodies distributed in three streets, arranged according to a superposition of classical orders. The ends are decorated with fruits and garlands, elements that replace the traditional Gothic "polseras".

In the sotabanco several scenes of the Passion are represented in high relief: the Prayer in the Garden, the Arrest, the Flagellation, Jesus before Pilate and the Fall on the way to Calvary.

In the first body, the central figure is the Virgin and Child, represented in a larger size than the lateral figures. On both sides, in smaller niches, are the saints Colombina, Ursula and Florentina, together with the saints Matías, Bernardo and Guillén.

The second body is dedicated to the Joys of Mary, also represented in high relief.

In the third body, the central figure is Jesus, also of outstanding size, flanked by the Apostles. The composition is crowned with an attic where the scene of Calvary is represented.

Article obtained from Wikipedia article Wikipedia in his version of 06/04/2025, by various authors under the license Licencia de Documentación Libre GNU.

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