MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. Saint Pius V, 9
The altarpiece of San Jorge del Centenar de la Ploma is a large work of tempera on panel from the 15th century that exudes historical and artistic value on all four sides for being the great reference of international Gothic made in Valencia.. It is no coincidence that he currently presides over one of the most important rooms in the Victoria & Albert Museum from London, who has given him the predella (the lower part of the altarpiece) a nuestro Valencian Institute for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (IVCR+) to investigate and restore it. The last phase of the restoration, what had to do with chromatic reintegration, It was done in front of the public and until the end of January, after 18 months of research and restoration, The piece will be exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia until the end of January. We are talking about an altarpiece that bears the insignia of the Ballesteros Company, a group of one hundred double-sided archers, military and religious, created in 1365 to safeguard the city. They were dressed in white habits with a St. George's cross and decorated their heads with a heron feather.. In 1711 The brotherhood was abolished and more than a century later, in 1864, The work ended up in the hands of a Parisian buyer and finally ended up in London..
The altarpiece of Saint George, attributed to Miquel Alcanyís and Marçal de Sax (and probably other painters living in Valencia), which was painted at the beginning of the 15th century, It was located in the disappeared church of San Jorge de València. The arrangement of the altarpiece is not usual and one of its central scenes is dedicated to the battle of El Puig that opened the doors to the conquest of Valencia in 1238. There is no unity in the whole since scenes with a golden background are combined with others in which the architecture has a certain desire for perspective., and Florentine and Germanic features are mixed. The altarpiece is made up of five streets: The central one represents the fight of Saint George against the dragon before the princess; above, the battle of Puig; and the crest, the coronation of the Virgin and Christ seated in majesty dominating the composition of the whole. Sixteen scenes alluding to the legend of Saint George appear in the side streets., crowned by the four figures of the evangelists. Twenty-four prophets are arranged in the streets, most identified by a sign, and on the duster the twelve apostles, alternating with the emblem of the cross of St. George and a crossbow. As for the piece that you can see in the Museum of Fine Arts, la regions, worse preserved than the body of the altarpiece, You will find ten scenes of the Passion and a central hole where a missing piece is missing. Do not miss this wonderful opportunity to appreciate at home one of the best works of art of our Valencian heritage that has not been shown in Valencia since 1856, It is a train that may not pass again. S.M.
