Joan Mates, one of the protagonists of the Barcelona international gothic, received, in 1417, the commission to produce the altarpiece of Saint Sebastian of the Charity House of Barcelona, very popular in the early Middle Ages, for his role against the plague, showing the high level of refinement and sophistication which was achieved in the times of the international gothic. The saint listens to the angel who reads whispering to him, the reason that alludes to a tradition according to which Saint Sebastian gave strength to the Christians sentenced to death thanks to the words of an angel.