Spanish school; first half of the 16th century.

Spanish school; first half of the sixteenth century.
"Triptych with the prayer in the garden, the risen Christ and St. Paul".
Oil on canvas glued to board (central panel) and on board.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 50 x 40 x 4 cm (closed).
Devotional triptych of small format, probably made in the Hispanic area between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. It is composed of three polychrome wood panels: the central panel shows a religious scene, probably the Prayer in the Garden or a vigil scene in Gethsemane, in which Christ appears in prayer, while the apostles sleep in the foreground. In the background, hills and buildings can be seen, resolved with a simple perspective and narrative character, which place the scene in a recognizable space for the viewer of the time.
The lateral wings present full-length figures: on the left, a resurrected Christ carrying the victorious cross, in clear allusion to his triumph over death; on the right, an apostle identified as St. Paul by the sword, symbol of his martyrdom, and the book he holds, emblem of his epistles. Both figures are framed in pointed arches that evoke late Gothic aesthetics, suggesting that the work belongs to a transitional period between International Gothic and the early Renaissance in the Iberian Peninsula.
From a technical point of view, the painting evidences the use of egg tempera on panel, a technique characteristic of the late Middle Ages, with a palette dominated by ochers, reds and golds that convey spirituality and solemnity. The linear treatment of the figures and the folding of the draperies still preserves echoes of the Gothic, but the presence of a greater volume in the bodies and the attempt to suggest spatial depth anticipate Renaissance interests. The surface shows wear and loss of polychromy that, paradoxically, allow us to appreciate the preparation of the panel and the method of construction of pictorial layers.
Academically, this piece is significant not only as an object of private devotion, but also as a testimony of the stylistic transition in Spanish religious painting of the time. Its portable format indicates that it may have been used in domestic oratories or in the devotional practice of a small community, bringing the faithful closer to the scenes of the Passion and the exemplary figures of the Church.