Step Back in Time: Exploring the Mev's Gothic and Object Art collections

The Italianate movement, introduced around 1330, includes pictorial works linked to the Bassa and Serra families. The modern Italo-Gothic style created by Giotto is characterized by the softness of the forms and the elegance and serenity of the artistic compositions.

This exceptional altarpiece from the Bernat Saulet workshop stands out in the field of Gothic sculpture. The twenty scenes of the altarpiece develop the narrative of the main episodes in the life of Jesus between the liturgical feasts of Palm Sunday and the Ascension.

This Virgin is a magnificent example of Marian iconography in the Gothic period: while the Romanesque Virgins are usually seated, enthroned figures, characterised by their majestic air, the Gothic Virgins are figures that stress the humanity of the Mother and Son, yet without renouncing the theological symbolism.

From the early International Gothic period, this magnificent altarpiece from Guimerà, by Ramon de Mur, stands out. This movement introduced a new naturalistic aesthetic based on the dynamism and movement of the figures, and the use of very vivid and contrasting coloured pigments.

This large altarpiece is the most important work conserved by the artist and has been unanimously considered one of the masterpieces of European painting in the early International Gothic style.

This altarpiece is a work from Jaume Ferrer's early years, in which we can already observe the characteristic traits of the new period, especially as regards the detail with which the exterior landscapes in the backgrounds of the panels are described, and the meticulousness and richness of the interior scenes.

Figures such as Jaume Huguet represent the late Gothic period in the collection. The Flemish imprint on this work from Jaume Huguet's youth is seen with the pictorial option of abandoning the gilt backgrounds of the scenes in order to be able to paint a landscape treated in a very detailed way, as if it were a miniature.

The series of panels from the Gascó workshop is an eloquent testimony to the evolution of Catalan painting during the first half of the 16th century. The treatment of the face and the radial design of the halo direct the viewer's gaze towards the eyes of Christ, where all the expressive force of the image rests.

The 'Witches' Cloth' or 'Witches Canopy' is an Andalusian fabric which, according to tradition, was used as an altar frontal. It is part of a group of Andalusian fabrics from the 11th and 12th centuries, characterised by being made with the same technique, the same colours and same decoration of alternating bands of animals facing each other.

The cope of Ramon de Bellera, bishop of Vic from 1352 to 1377, was left to the Cathedral by the bishop on his death. The cape was made between 1350 and 1370, a time of strong expressiveness in depictions, and has an iconographical programme invoking the Church.

As a container and sprinkler of aromatic liquids, the 'almorratxa' takes its name from a very similar word that in Arabic means perfume sprinkler, or rather rose water container. It was a common feature in Catalan houses from the 14th century onwards. During the 18th century it was consolidated as an element of folkloric use, and was used at festivals and dances in different Catalan towns and villages.

In the Gothic period all the treasuries of the Catalan cathedrals had two, three, or more evangeliarias with historiated silver covers. Vic Cathedral's 'codex argenti' shows the Calvary on the front and Jesus between Saints Peter and Paul on the back.