“Cosa maravillosa, y lo sumo a que puede llegar el arte de la perspectiva”el retablo fingido de fray Juan Sánchez Cotán en la Cartuja de Granada

Abstract

The current documentation and preserved works have allowed us to follow the trajectory of a prolific artist, learned in religious painting, in portraits and landscapes and, above all, in the great still lifes. However, so far, the work of fray Juan Sánchez Cotán as a muralist has hardly been addressed. In this context, the altarpiece of St. Peter and St. Paul of the Sala of Profundis of the Monastery of the Cartuja is exalted as an exceptional work in his career and in the development of the mural painting of Granada in the Modern Age. An unusual work that demonstrates the extraordinary mastery of perspective and mural painting techniques to represent an imposing architectural ensemble; which he also employed in the Refectory, whose cross was endowed with such realism that the swallows tried to perch on their nails.