Central compartment from the altarpiece dedicated to Saints Bartholomew and Bernard of Clairvaux

It is the central panel from a lost altarpiece, commissioned in June 1394 to Pere Serra, to be set in the convent church of Sant Domènec in Manresa. It corresponds to the period of the painter's full artistic maturity and is considered to be one of his masterpieces. Pere Serra was trained as a painter in the Barcelona workshop of Ramon Destorrents, where he worked for a period of four years from 1357. Later, in the company of his three brothers, also painters, he was part of the family painting workshop. We have documentary proof of his pictorial output from 1375 to 1405. From his workshop he dominated the Catalan art scene, imposing the Italianate Gothic style throughout the second half of the 14th century, which can clearly be seen in the many altarpieces he did all over the territory of the old Catalano-Aragonese Crown. The creative period this panel corresponds to is still characterised by the survival of this balanced serene restrained style, typical of the Italo-Gothic aesthetic, although elements are already appearing more typical of the precious, luxurious taste of the new International Gothic style. The scene shows the standing figures of Saint Bartholomew with the book and the knife, the symbol of his martyrdom, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux with the book and the crosier, wearing a richly embroidered cope.