The polychrome wood sculpture of Sant Aleix jacent

Inside the church of Sant Joan Baptista de Valls in Tarragona, the small chapel of Sant Aleix jacent serves as a burial place for the Bonifaç and Ixart families. The sculptor Lluís Bonifaç i Massó accepted the commission to create the image of Sant Aleix at the request of his grandfather and master, Lluís Bonifaç i Sastre. The family declared themselves devoted to this saint due to their Italian origins, and the religious nature of the work allowed the themes of death and poverty to reach a large number of people.

Lluís Bonifaç i Massó portrayed Sant Aleix as a pilgrim who had returned to his home city. The sculpture is exempt and depicts the saint as deceased, wearing worn, aged, and torn pilgrim clothing. He is shown barefoot, and in his hand he carried a rolled note that served as an identifying document, though this note is now missing. The sculpture is enclosed in a case, which makes it appear as though it is inside a funerary urn. Above the urn is a relief of the Mare de Déu with her child in her arms.

The chapel contains several other works, including a ceiling with a scene of Sant Aleix saying goodbye to his wife on his wedding day and a ceiling of Sant Aleix tempted by the devil. The front of the altar features the coats of arms for the Bonifaç family, showing a profile head with a royal crown, and the Ixart family, showing a net of fish. While the retable was destroyed in 1936, the sculpture of Sant Aleix, the relief of the Mare de Déu, and the two ceiling plaques remain and have been recently restored.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons