Virgin of the Councillors

Lluís Dalmau's Virgin of the Councillors, painted in 1445 and now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, is the most important Catalan painting of the fifteenth century and the work that introduced Flemish naturalism to the Iberian Peninsula at the highest level. Dalmau had been sent to Bruges in 1431 by the Aragonese king Alfonso V, where he studied directly with Jan van Eyck, and this altarpiece — commissioned by the city councillors of Barcelona for their chapel — applies Eyckian technique and spatial organization to a Catalan civic commission. The work created a template for Hispano-Flemish painting that dominated the Iberian Peninsula for the next half-century.

Dalmau achieves the Eyckian qualities of luminous oil glazes, precise detail, and coherent spatial organization that he absorbed in Bruges. The councillors are rendered as individualized portraits with the same care as the sacred figures. The Flemish technique of building up transparent glazes creates the characteristic depth and luminosity of the Van Eyck tradition.