The panel presents a depiction ofChristus Patiensemerging from his tomb, flanked onthe left and right by the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist. Christ appears in themiddle of the composition, his arms crossed,and his head tilted to his right. Heis dressed solely in aperizoniumwith abundant parallelfolds.He shows clear signs ofthe martyrdom suffered during the Passion, explicit in the bloodflowing from thewounds to his hands and, particularly, to his side. His body is robust androunded, with ample ribcageandthe ribs highly pronounced. He wearsthe crown ofthorns on his head,which has caused the cuts from which a few drops of blood aretricklingdown his foreheadand face. He also presents animbus with rays of light,executed usingpastillagetechnique and giltplaster.He has a longheadof straight hair,which falls down over his shoulders and back.As regards his face, it is that of a corpse.His eyes areshut,and wrinkles reinforcehis expressivity. His eyebrows are thin anddelicate, drawn with two simple brown lines.His cheekbonesare prominentand hint atthe bone structure, covered by a fairly sparse and trimmed beard.His mouth, slightlyopen, does not reveal any teeth.

 

We observeOur Lady of Sorrows just to his right, her handsclaspedtogether in prayer.She wears awhite widow’s headdressand a red robe with generous vertical folds. Hercloak, with adot-markedtrim, is blue on the outside and orange on the inside. It coversher whole body, including her head, andfalls intolong, tube-shaped folds like those ofthe robe. Mary’s face is delicate,with a mournfulexpression, heightened by her lookingdown towards the ground. Herbrown eyes are halfopen whileher fleshy lips are firmly closed.There is a pink blush to hercheeks,where we can appreciate the greyishlines commonly found in temperapainting. Behind her head she has around golden nimbus, executed ingilt stuccorelief.It includes anumber of circumferencesand theinside is made up of floral motifs withfleshy leaf shapessurrounded bydeep punch marks.

 

St. John the Evangelist,meanwhile, appears on Christ’s left.He is wearing abrown robewith a reddish cloak on top, covering his left arm,whose shape we can just make outunder the volume of the garment.The inside of the latter is of a yellowish hue,muchlike the robe as we intuit from the neckarea. The Saint’sbody languagedenotessadness and concern,as may beappreciated from his face and the gestureof his right hand,which isholding hissomewhatdistraughtfaceby the chin. The furrowed brow, the downward gazeand half-open mouth heighten this imageofdespair. Heis pictured witha highlyprominent earand ruffled curly blond hair,with multiple reflections.Behind his headthere is a gold nimbus in gilt reliefmuchlike theonewe saw with Mary.

 

The tomb is ared-colored sarcophaguswith a mottledlook, givingthe material the appearance ofporphyry.Some of theArma Christiare arranged on top of it,specifically thehammer,pliers anda nailtowards thefront,withthe dice andjar of vinegarbehind them. Therest of theInstruments of the Passionare picturedtowards the back, around thecross of martyrdom,which is crowned by thetitulus“INRI” (IhesusNazarenus Rex Iudeorum).The transom of the crossfeatures the two nailsthatsecured the hands of the Son of God, and which are still bloody. It also has aladderleaning against it, as well as the delicate Veil of Veronica, executed in grisaille and the flagellation whips.

 

On the left we see theSpear of Longinus, while towards thecenterwe observe somecanes, one of the torches that guided the Roman soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane, andtheear of Malchus, alongside the knife with which St. Petercut it off. Of particularnote is thetormentor, or Jew,with apseudo-grotesque faceand prominent nose,carryinga cane. It is surprising to observe how he spits at Christ, something not at allcommon in this sort of depiction. He also appears to be holding the bag of 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot.Above St. John’s nimbus a sort of axe or pickseemsto be sticking out, along with a long stick, without doubt used topass the vinegar-soaked sponge up to Christ’s mouth. Finally, on our right, we see theColumn at whichChrist was flogged, with thewhipcordswoundaround it and, on top, the lanternwithwhich Judas lit the soldiers’ way to the Garden of Gethsemane. Both the square format of the panel along with the iconography confirm thatthis wasthe central compartment of an altarpiece predella. Another aspect bearing this out isthe original existence of gilt cresting at the top, which has since been lost, butwhoseimpression can still be discerned.

 

From a technical point of view,it is worth noting the presence of anincised drawing onthe front of the panel,which would have beenused by the painterto outline the mainelements making up the composition. We can see this clearly in the areawherethe twoshafts of the cross meet, as well as in theoutlining of the figures and some of theArmaChristi.If weturn ourattention to theback, we observe thatthe compartmentwas made up of two similarly-sized panels arranged horizontally,something often foundin altarpiece predella compartments.The joint between the two wassecuredwithadhesivepaste,andthenstrengthened with fabric, whichwasaimed at combatting therelativeswellingand shrinking of the woodthat would take place in accordance withthe surrounding humidity levelsdue to its hygroscopic nature.This fabric, along withother elements used in the preparation of panels, served to minimize such effects, whichcould end up leading to the appearance of cracks on the painted surface.

 

We can also observe that,overthe entiresurface of the back of the panel, remnantsremain of apreparation made up of plaster, animal glue and vegetable fibers,thepurpose of which was also tolessen the effect ofpotential expansions and contractionsin the wood. As such, the backsurface was covered withaplaster paste, undoubtedlyusing animal glue as abinder,onto whichburlap wasapplied, which explains thepresence of vegetable fibers. The aim here was much the same, to ensure the stability of the joint between the two panelsin the event of the wood shrinking or swelling.It wasa system that proved extremely popular inHispanicpictorialworkshops in the earlymiddles ages. Finally, in order tostrengthen the general structure of the compartment,the joiner or carpenter attached a vertical cross-piece, now lost, but whose mark canstill be made out in the central area. Said cross-piece wassecured using nails insertedinto the front of the panel, and theend of thenails were bentbackoveronce they hadgone through thecross-piece at the back. Once the cross-piece was lost, the nails weresheared off, though their presence is still observable at first glance.