Jaume Serra (died after 1405) was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

painter. Serra was influenced heavily by a

Sienese Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

style introduced by

Ferrer Bassa Ferrer Bassa ( 1285 – 1348) was a Catalan Gothic painter and miniaturist. Biography He was active in the early 14th century, as proved by two documents which attest him working in two chapels at Sitges. Ten years later he worked for Alf ...

Biography

Serra was a member of a family of artists active in Catalonia in the fourteenth century. His brothers Pere, Francesc and Joan were also painters of italogótico style. The Serra brothers are characterized by the painting of tiny, stylized, slanted eyes and small mouth figures. Jaime painted ''Madonna of Humility''. He also collaborated with his brothers in the realization of the

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

of the

Monastery of Santa María de Sigena A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Two additional altarpieces are preserved in the Museum of Zaragoza. ''The Virgin'' from the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre (

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

) and ''Martin de Alpartil'' or the ''Resurrection'' (with the portrait of the friar as a donor). The third altarpiece is from the Shrine of Our Lady of

Tobed Tobed is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. As of 2018, the municipality had a population of 214 inhabitants. This town is located between the Sierra de Vicort and the Sierra de Algairén Sierra de Algairén is ...

, in Zaragoza, whose execution is documented between 1356 and 1359. It is formed by a central table, the ''Virgin of Tobed'', which are represented the nursing

Virgin and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

with the future

king of Castile This is a list of kings and queens of the Kingdom and Crown of Castile. For their predecessors, see List of Castilian counts. Kings and Queens of Castile Jiménez dynasty House of Ivrea The following dynasts are descendants, in the ma ...

Henry II of Castile as a donor, and its two doors, painted in tempera and altarpieces independent dedicated to

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

and

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, whose stories are told in three successive records on the bench with various saints. The set was kept divided between the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, which had since 1965 the two side tables, and Várez Fisa collection, until in 2013 the collection has been donated to the Madrid museum main table, so that the altar could be made whole again. Jaime's altarpiece ''The Holy Spirit'' can be found in the

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographical centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are ...

cathedral.

References

* Azcárate Ristori, JMª of "Gothic painting of the fifteenth century" in History of Art, Anaya, Madrid, 1986. * Monreal, L., Great Museums, Vol. 1 and 3, Editorial Planeta, 1975. (complete collection) * Prado Museum, Spanish Romanesque to Renaissance painting, Madrid, 2010, , pp. 16–17. 14th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters 15th-century Spanish painters Painters from Catalonia Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 15th-century deaths Medieval Catalan artists 14th-century Catalan people 15th-century Catalan people {{Spain-painter-stub