Josep Mundet And Joan Palet - Monumental Sculpted Panel

This large carved wooden relief panel was created through a collaboration between sculptor Josep Mundet i Tarrés and painter-draftsman Joan Palet. The composition unfolds horizontally as a continuous figurative procession articulated in high relief. Armoured angels, a central female figure pierced by a cross, and symbolic motifs including books and scales establish a narrative structured around authority, judgment, and moral tension. The figures are forcefully modeled, with emphatic gestures and deeply worked surfaces that accentuate the sculptural rhythm of the scene. A warm, aged patina enhances the contrast between raised and recessed areas, allowing light and shadow to articulate the dense iconographic program. The work demonstrates a confident command of narrative relief carving and reflects a synthesis of expressive sculptural form and disciplined compositional structure.

1950–1970

Joan Palet Batiste was a painter and draftsman born in Barcelona into a family of sculptors and woodcarvers. Josep Mundet i Tarrés was a Catalan sculptor noted for his expressive and schematic approach to figurative form.

Palet studied at the Llotja School of Fine Arts in Barcelona under Ramon Calsina, Félix Mestres, and Antoni Vila Arrufat, developing a practice grounded in academic training and expressive draftsmanship shaped by political and cultural upheaval. Mundet cultivated a highly personal sculptural language characterized by vigorous modeling and formal reduction, alongside teaching and exhibiting in Catalonia.

Modern Catalan Figurative Relief

Classical narrative relief traditions and modern Catalan expressionist sculpture.

Any gaps can be closed with realigning in the frame.

Unmounted carved panel; verso constructed with vertical wooden slats and horizontal reinforcement bars, showing wear consistent with age and prior installation.

Josep Mundet i Tarrés (1931–1983) and Joan Palet (1911–1996)