Invention of the Body of Saint Stephen

The Vergos workshop's Invention of the Body of Saint Stephen, now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, depicts a pivotal episode in Stephen's hagiography: the miraculous discovery (inventio) of the protomartyr's buried body in 415 CE, revealed by the priest Lucian through divine visions. The inventio was among the most theologically and politically charged events in early Christian history, since the rediscovery of Stephen's relics triggered a wave of miraculous cures and transformed him into one of the most venerated saints of the early medieval church. This panel was part of the large Stephen altarpiece of which Princess Eudoxia before the Tomb is the companion piece, providing a narrative context for the later Byzantine episodes. The Vergos workshop's rendering of the inventio reflects Catalan painters' ability to handle complex historical subjects with narrative clarity.

The Vergos workshop employs Hispano-Flemish technique in rendering the ceremonial excavation of Stephen's remains — clerics, attendants, and witnesses grouped around the discovered body with gestures of reverential wonder. The composition manages a large cast of figures in a spatially coherent landscape, with careful attention to the ceremonial vestments of the officiating clergy.