The earliest sign of gothic painting in Catalonia?

The decoration of the apse of Saint Catherine’s Chapel in La Seu d’Urgell marks the boundary between two periods in the history of mediaeval Catalan painting. Indeed, it belongs to a time of transition between the long survival of late Romanesque, strongly influenced by the Byzantine component of the 1200 style, visible for example in the paintings from Sant Esteve in Andorra or in the activity of the Master of Lluçà, and the incipient introduction of Linear Gothic.

It is precisely the Gothic imprint of the Parisian miniature from the reign of Saint Louis (1226-1270) that gives the group a true personality. The affinity with the images in the earliest moralized bibles, of long and elegant figures, is undeniable. Certain aspects of the clothing are similar too, like the princely and very Parisian fastened cloak lined with fur worn by Saint Catherine in the scene of the Dispute.