Altar frontal from Sant Andreu in Sagàs

Despite the fact that since the Episcopal Museum's first catalogue, published in 1893, the provenance of this frontal has been given as somewhere in the municipality of Capolat, in El Berguedà, the fact is that the two altar side pieces conserved in the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal de Solsona, documented faithfully as coming from Sant Andreu in Sagàs, form, together with this altar frontal, a single unit. From the stylistic point of view, especially with regard to the very marked use of the black line to outline the figures and the very characteristic facial features, we can say that we are dealing with the same artist. His art is close to the painter of popular tradition who did the frontals of Sant Martí in Puigbò and Sant Llorenç Dosmunts. This altar frontal is centred upon the figure of Christ Pantocrator, blessing with his right hand and with the book with the monogram IHS in his left hand. He is surrounded by the symbols of the Tetramorph – Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In the four compartments we see the following scenes and legends from the life of Saint Andrew: the saint taken to prison, the proconsul Egees orders the saint to be crucified, the death of Egees and the crucifixion of Saint Andrew, and a group of woman and two children in a line witnessing the death of the proconsul.