Southwest German painter (active Bavaria and/or in the Lake Constance region, second half of the 15th century)
Saint Valentine and Saint Giles, c. 1460-1480
Oil on panel, 122.5 x 68.5 cm (framed: 135.5 x 82.5 cm)
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This large and imposing painting comes from an altarpiece made in Southwest Germany, most certainly in Bavaria or in the Lake Constance region, c. 1460-1480. It features Saint Valentine with...
This large and imposing painting comes from an altarpiece made in Southwest Germany, most certainly in Bavaria or in the Lake Constance region, c. 1460-1480. It features Saint Valentine with his book on the left and Saint Giles with his miter and crosier on the right, accompanied by his deer pierced by an arrow in the center. The two saints are situated in an architectural interior punctuated by columns, with shadows in the background that effectively deepen the space. Everything suggests that this painting was originally the right side panel of the altarpiece, from which the reverse side has also been cut away, where there may have been another depiction, possibly in grisaille.
The artist’s style is characterized by a bold brushstroke, vibrant and shimmering colors, a pronounced treatment of light, particularly shadow, and figures with elongated morphologies and highly expressive faces with unusually long noses and pearly eyes. Although the author of this panel remains anonymous for now, his style is particularly interesting and quite unique. It shows proximity with Bavarian works from the first decade of the second half of the 15th century as well as close connection with two paintings from the Lake Constance region from the mid-15th century. Among the most interesting comparisons, we mention the panels depicting Saint Corbinian and Saint Anthony, the Angel of the Annunciation, and Saint Florian (Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts) painted by a Bavarian painter c. 1460. Moreover, as Dr Stephan Kemperdick pointed out, specific details such as the draperies or the faces are very close to the painting of the Sermon of Saint Albertus Magnus (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). This painting, erroneously attributed to Friedrich Walther, is in fact realized by the same artist who painted the Portrait of Count William IV, Count Schenk von Schenkenstein and his wife Agnes, Countess of Werdenberg-Trochtelfingen c. 1450 (Schwäbisch Hall, Würth Collection). The proximity of our painting with the one in the MET is so striking that one might be tempted to see in the present panel of Saint Valentine and Saint Giles a late work by the same artist.
We thank Prof. Frédéric Elsig, Dr Isabelle Dubois-Brinkmann, and Dr Stephan Kemperdick for their expertise and scientific opinion.
The artist’s style is characterized by a bold brushstroke, vibrant and shimmering colors, a pronounced treatment of light, particularly shadow, and figures with elongated morphologies and highly expressive faces with unusually long noses and pearly eyes. Although the author of this panel remains anonymous for now, his style is particularly interesting and quite unique. It shows proximity with Bavarian works from the first decade of the second half of the 15th century as well as close connection with two paintings from the Lake Constance region from the mid-15th century. Among the most interesting comparisons, we mention the panels depicting Saint Corbinian and Saint Anthony, the Angel of the Annunciation, and Saint Florian (Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts) painted by a Bavarian painter c. 1460. Moreover, as Dr Stephan Kemperdick pointed out, specific details such as the draperies or the faces are very close to the painting of the Sermon of Saint Albertus Magnus (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). This painting, erroneously attributed to Friedrich Walther, is in fact realized by the same artist who painted the Portrait of Count William IV, Count Schenk von Schenkenstein and his wife Agnes, Countess of Werdenberg-Trochtelfingen c. 1450 (Schwäbisch Hall, Würth Collection). The proximity of our painting with the one in the MET is so striking that one might be tempted to see in the present panel of Saint Valentine and Saint Giles a late work by the same artist.
We thank Prof. Frédéric Elsig, Dr Isabelle Dubois-Brinkmann, and Dr Stephan Kemperdick for their expertise and scientific opinion.
Provenance
Executed in Southwest Germany, probably in Bavaria or in the region of Lake Constance, c. 1460-1480, by an anonymous painter, and part of an unidentified dismembered altarpiece.Cologne, Lempertz, May 15, 1962, lot 225 (as ”Tiroler Meister vom Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts”).
Cologne, Lempertz, November 11-13, 1965, lot 149 (as ”Tiroler Meister vom Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts”).
Spanish art market in the 1970s (according to Sotheby's).
Madrid, private collection.
London, Sotheby’s, April 28, 2021, lot 304 (as “Hispano-Flemish, probably Castilian, 16th century“).
Switzerland, private collection.
Literature
FURTHER READINGS:A. Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, 11 vol., Berlin, 1934-1961.
G. Kaun, Deutsche Malerei des fünfzehnten und sechszehnten Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart, 1949.
J. O. Hand, German paintings of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, Washington. 1993.
B. Brinkmann & S. Kemperdick, Deutsche Gemälde in Städel 1300-1500, Mainz, 2002.
Old Masters: the former Fürstlich Fürstenberg collection of paintings in the Würth Collection, exhibition catalogue (Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, October 16, 2004-May 1st, 2005), ed. S. Weber, Kunsthalle Würth, 2004.
Strange beauty: German paintings at the National Gallery, exhibition catalogue (London, National Gallery, February 19-May 11, 2014), dir. C. Bugler, London, 2014.
M. W. Ainsworth, & J. P. Waterman, German paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1350-1600, New York, 2013.
Peintures germaniques dans les collections françaises (1370-1550), exhibition catalogue (May 4-September 23, 2024). "Maîtres et merveilles": Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts; "Made in Germany": Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie; "Couleur, gloire et beauté": Colmar, Unterlinden Museum), dir. I. Dubois-Brinkmann & A. Briau, Dijon & Paris, 2024.
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