Lot 124: Francisco Solibes , active in Catalonia at the end of the 15th Century Christ in Limbo oil on panel, marouflaged, gold ground, unframed, shaped top

oil on panel, marouflaged, gold ground, unframed, shaped top

measurements note 70.5 by 42.2 cm.; 27 3/4 by 16 5/8 in.

Francisco Solibes was from the Catalonian town of Bañolas and was a follower of the better known Catalan painter Jaume Huguet (circa 1415-before 1492). We are grateful to Profesor Antoni José Pitarch for endorsing the attribution to Solibes on the basis of photographs. Profesor Pitarch has compared the present work with Solibes' altarpiece of 1480 in the Chapel of "La Pietat" in Sant Llorenç de Morunys and his altarpiece of 1481, in Santa Maria de la Bovera, near Guimerà. It is worth noting in particular the similarity between the physiognomy of the figures in our work and those in the artist's Pentecost panel from the "La Pietat" altarpiece.υ1 It is likely that the present panel was originally part of a larger altarpiece, most probably one of the pinnacles. 1. See C.R. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, vol. VII, Part I, Harvard 1938, p. 355, reproduced fig. 121. For further examples of works by Francisco Solibes, please see C.R. Post, op. cit., pp. 350-375.