A Gothic altarpiece divided and distributed around the world returns home to local euphoria.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an unprecedented passion for medieval art awoke among the wealthy classes. Many Spanish churches , barely able to stand, had no choice but to sell their great heritage treasures to antique dealers and art dealers, who then shipped the pieces to London and Paris for sale all over the world, especially to the United States. The history and identity of those small towns was skewed—forever?

One of the most extreme cases of this heritage nightmare can be found in the small town of Escalarre, in the province of Lérida. There, in the Church of Sant Martí, stood a spectacular 15th-century Gothic altarpiece at least six meters high and made up of 25 compartments. And we're talking about the past because between 1903 and 1913, it completely disappeared. So much so that more than a hundred years later, only ten have been located. And one of them, acquired by the Generalitat (Catalan government) in 2024 for 35,000 euros , will finally return home.

One of the people responsible for this small fragment of the original altarpiece being able to return home is art historian Albert Velasco . In 2000, he was shown a 1903 photo showing the complete altarpiece. "When I saw it, I was stunned. I tried to find out which church it was and finally found Escalarre. The first Spanish Heritage Law wasn't passed until the 1930s, so all these pieces were largely unprotected. There are letters in which the prelates say, 'Our church is falling apart.' This led to them selling their works," Velasco recalls.

Once the altarpiece was identified, a detective investigation began to find out where all the compartments had ended up. One of the first he managed to find was at the Harvard Museum. "The story is quite incredible. The trail led me to Arthur Kingsley Porter , an American medievalist, millionaire, and chairman of the art history department at Harvard University. He never stopped acquiring pieces. On a trip to Ireland in 1933, while walking on the island of Inishbofin, he disappeared and was presumed dead. His wife, Lucy Briant Wallace , donated the paintings to the museum in the 1960s," Velasco says.

Kinsley's life could make a movie. Despite remaining married until his death, the historian acknowledged his homosexuality, which caused him no small amount of trouble at conservative Harvard . "He was a very peculiar man, who suffered from depression, and whose psychologist in London invited him to have sex with another of his patients," Velasco recalls.

Kinsley's case is paradigmatic, demonstrating how all these pieces fell into the hands of private collectors, most of them anonymous, and therefore unrecoverable. The American historian purchased the altarpieces from an antique dealer in Verona in 1913 , so we know that the altarpiece was removed from the church of Sant Martí between 1903 and 1913.

Even so, from time to time a compartment reappears at auction. The Generalitat (Catalan government) bid for one in 2016 in London , but lost the bid to another private collector. Then there was another auction in Lucerne, Switzerland , and during the pandemic, Velasco unexpectedly discovered a new fragment. "A person wrote to me from the United States asking if I could identify a piece, which turned out to be one of the doors from the Escalarre altarpiece. The world sometimes has the answer to all our questions. This collector had found it in a collection in northern Italy," says the art historian.

Thus we arrive at 2024, when an antique dealer in Barcelona contacted Velasco to tell him about one of the compartments of a Gothic altarpiece he owned. He had read Velasco's book on the Escalarre altarpiece and saw that there were too many similarities for what he had in his shop not to be part of it. "We notified the Generalitat (Catalan government), and they seized the opportunity to compensate for this unfortunate event. Its acquisition was a historical reconstruction. After 120 years, the town can recover part of its history and identity ," Velasco concludes.

The compartment that will return to the church will be a representation of the miracle of Saint Martin, a work by the master of Son . It is another of the doors of the main altarpiece, painted in the late 15th century, measuring 91 x 75.5 centimeters. The work combines tempera and oil with stucco, gilding, and gold leaf fillings.

The adventures of this reconstruction are so extraordinary that it has given rise to a stage piece that will bring this piece to the church of Sant Martí for the first time. It is currently in the custody of the Aneu Valley Museum . Thus, on July 30th, the church will host a choreographic production by the prestigious Hamburg Ballet dancer, Aleix Martínez . He will be accompanied by the Cererols Choir. Beforehand, Velasco will recount the adventures of rediscovering this great Gothic altarpiece to the world.

The production will be presented at the Dansàneu Festival , a key event on the summer calendar in the Catalan high Pyrenees. This year, it is dedicated specifically to community and heritage. Art, dance, theatre, and poetry will be combined starting on July 25th in a competition that includes names such as Andrea Motis , Helena Tornero, Joaquim Amat, Judit Neddermann, Emma Vilarasau , and Quimi Portet .