Joan Mates, a Catalan painter associated with the International Gothic style, developed a highly expressive and elegant language, especially in the modelling of his figures, which reveals the influence of Franco-Flemish illuminators.

The Altarpiece of Saint Lucy comes from the sanctuary of Santa Maria de Penyafel (Alt Penedès, Santa Margarida i els Monjos) and was created alongside another altarpiece dedicated to Saint Michael. Both works, initially attributed to the anonymous Master of Penyafel, later had a decisive role in shaping the artistic personality of Joan Mates.

All the scenes comprising the series were painted on a single panel, and their condition allows the viewer to appreciate the extensive range of decorative motifs employed by Mates and the meticulousness of their execution. On this particular subject and based on the painter’s panels depicting the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, Cèsar Favà and Mireia Campuzano have conducted research revealing the processes of serial repetition and reuse of decorative motifs within Mates’s workshop. Among other examples, they identified the repeated design of a swan, which appears in this altarpiece in the gilded embroidery on the saint’s tunic.