Retable of St George

1400 · Victoria and Albert Museum, London

religious

This large altarpiece is a fine example of the Valencian school during the International Gothic Style in the first quarter of the 15th century. It was traditionally attributed to the German painter established in Valencia, Andrés Marzal de Sax (or Marçal de Sas) although this attribution is still subject to debate and leads to more cautiously call the artist responsible for this work 'Master of the Centenar' according to the provenance of the retable most likely executed for the chapel of the Confraternity of the Centenar de la Ploma. The altarpiece illustrates the legend of the St George, a Christian warrior saint, said to have lived at the end of the 3rd century.

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About the Artist

Andrés Marzal De Sax

Painter, probably of German origin (Sax indicating Saxony), who worked in Valencia. Only one fragment survives of his documented works - the Incredulity of St Thomas in Valencia Cathedral, part of an altarpiece he completed for the cathedral in 1400. Among the works given to him on stylistic grounds the most important is the huge and sumptuous retable of St George (Victoria and Albert Museum, London), featuring the varied tortures of the saint in grisly detail. The somewhat rough vigour of Marzal de Sax's style had considerable influence in Valencia; he is last mentioned in 1410, impoverished and ill, receiving free lodging from the city in recognition of the quality of his work and his generosity in training local painters.

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