Master of Cruïlles

This anonymous Spanish painter from the late 1400s made crisp, slightly stiff religious scenes with bold outlines and flat colors. The diptych *Saint James with a Donor* shows the saint in armor pointing to heaven while the kneeling donor clutches a tiny model of a church. Flip to the reverse panel, *Decapitation of Saint James*, where a sword flashes and a crowd watches with calm, almost doll-like faces. A quick tap takes you to the apostle’s cloak’s deep crimson—notice how the folds flatten like cut paper against the gold-leaf background.