Borrassà and the Cathedral of Barcelona will present the latest additions to the museum’s Gothic art collection: the panels of the Profession of Saint Peter the Martyr and the Beheading of the relatives of Sant Hipòlit. Acquired by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya and deposited in the Museu Nacional in 2020, the incorporation of the two paintings is of special relevance both for their remarkable artistic value and for having belonged, in origin, in the cathedral of Barcelona. To all this, of course, must be added the fact that both works were made in the workshop of one of the leading Catalan Gothic painters, Lluís Borrassà (Girona, around 1360-Barcelona, 1424/1425).

The exhibition will address the figure and work of Lluís Borrassà through his production for the cathedral of Barcelona. Based on the above-mentioned incorporations, the collection of the Museu Nacional has become the only one that possesses panels of the three partially preserved altarpieces that the artist made for this temple. Around the Profession of St. Peter the Martyr and the Beheading of the relatives of Sant Hipòlit, will gather a large set of dismembered and dispersed panels from their respective sets of origin: the Altarpiece of St. Martha, St. Dominic and St. Peter the Martyr; and the Altarpiece of St. Lawrence, St. Hippolytus and St. Thomas Aquinas. Along with these works, most of which are little known to the public, parts of the altarpiece of Saint Andrew in the cathedral will also be exhibited, of which the museum already preserves the fragments of the Young Man included in the window and the Crucifixion of Saint Andrew.

Finally, in addition to presenting the new incorporations and Borrassà's work for the Barcelona headquarters, the exhibition will focus on some questions about the painting of the late Middle Ages and about the altarpiece, that is to say, the piece of furniture situated behind the altar, which is a key typology of the period. Among others, topics such as the operation of a late medieval painting workshop and the use of pictorial models, or the creative process of Lluís Borrassà will be treated. And it will also be an opportunity to tackle issues such as the modern discovery of Gothic painting and its falsification.