Altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin

In 1481 the painter Francesc Solives, his workshop established in Tarragona, signed the contract to make this altarpiece for the sanctuary of La Mare de Déu in La Bovera. The most important scene on the altarpiece is the one describing the moment when the image of the Virgin is found. It is set in the centre, in the top half of the altarpiece, beneath the Calvary. It shows the village procession, with the bishop and two clerics holding a gremial, at the moment they arrive in front of the tree; inside it there appears the image of the Virgin that the sanctuary is named after. From a stylistic and iconographical point of view it is similar to the altarpiece of the Holy Doubt from Ivorra, kept in the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal de Solsona. The characterisation of the faces of the figures, plus the disappearance of the gilt backgrounds, clearly shows the definitive influence that Jaume Huguet exerted on the Catalan painting of the second half of the 15th century, although in the case of this altarpiece Francesc Solives shows scant mastery of the art of drawing, the reason why it seems that it was done basically by collaborators from his workshop.