Retable of St. Mark

Arnau Bassa created this Retable of Saint Mark around 1346 for the church of Santa Maria de Manresa in Catalonia, representing the leading edge of the Italianate Gothic style in the Crown of Aragon. Arnau, son of the pioneering Catalan painter Ferrer Bassa, continued his father's project of introducing Sienese and Florentine pictorial innovations to Catalonia before his premature death during the Black Death of 1348. The retable is a key monument of Catalan Gothic painting.

The retable format follows the distinctive Catalan multi-paneled altarpiece structure with a central image flanked by narrative scenes from Saint Mark's life. Arnau Bassa's technique blends Italianate spatial modeling and naturalistic figural treatment with the rich decorative gold grounds and vibrant coloring of the Catalan tradition.