Great retable of San Benito el Real

Considered as the pillars of the New Law, the evangelists are represented since the Romance period. In the 16th century altarpieces they are often included, acting as ideological base of the narrative sequences developed in the work. In Saint Benedicts altarpiece two of them stand out, Saint Mathew and Saint Mark, writing the sacred texts. The figures made with the grisaille technique (painting that only uses white, black and shades of grey and imitates the embossed effect) show a very sculptural conception, achieved distributing the colors in big leveled ridges that create a strong volume effect in all the elements of the composition. They are placed in an ethereal space, silhouetted over a golden background and insinuating an imitation of unfinished mosaics with classicist tendencies learnt from Italy, greatly adapting Middle Ages traditional formulas to the new Renaissance aesthetics. Saint Mark Evangelist, apparently lost in thought, caresses the head of his symbol, the lion, while a beautiful feminine figure, divine inspiration, walks towards him, illuminating him in his chronicler work. Over his knees he has the sacred book while a boy holds the inkwell