The work we are studying here, along with others of highly similar appearance, have been linked in recent years to the Catalan painter Jaume Cabrera (doc. 1394-1432), or at least to his immediate circle. What we have before us is a pictorial example of a peculiar model that does not invite too many parallels with other pieces from the Crown of Aragon, although recent studies have shown than these sorts of images, with their heightened devotional charge, were more common than one might infer from the number of surviving works. The popularisation of this sort of Marian portrait, known in the Medieval period as “Veronicas”, as they were considered to be authentic depictions of the Mother of God, was of particular note in Catalonia from the reign of King Martin the Humane (1396-1410) onwards. The monarch became a major driving force behind worship of the “Purísima”, and at the end of the 14th century he promoted the undertaking of a reliquary intended to house a Veronica of this kind, an image which, furthermore, was linked to worship of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. This work, now preserved in the Cathedral of Valencia, is considered the starting point for a series of reliquaries with round bases displaying very similar images, which were particularly widespread in Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca. At the same time, small-scale paintings with identical representations also became popular, such as the one we are examining here. These are portraits of the Virgin which were thought to possess supernatural properties, and they tell us about how society in the Late Middle Ages related to certain holy images.

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