Title
Saint Simon
sculptor
Siloé, Gil de (Burgos. Active 1480-1500)
Generic classification
SculptureObject
SculptureDate
ca. 1500Century
Late 15th c.Cultural context / style
Late GothicDimensions
27 5/8 x 8 3/4 x 5Material
AlabasterTechnique
SculptedProvenance
Nuestra Señora del Fresdelval Monastery, Burgos (Fresdelval, Burgos, Spain)Current location
Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
18.316Object history
From 1500 to the 19th century in the Monastery of Fresdelval (Burgos).
In 1916 in Paris, Bacri Frères.
Purchased in 1917 by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from Bacri Frères.
Description
The work comes from the frieze of apostles of the upper part, now disappeared, of the tomb of Juan de Padilla, originally in the main chapel of the monastery of Fresdelval (Burgos) and today in the Museum of Burgos. A work made by Gil de Siloé with the collaboration of his workshop in the last years of the 15th century that has suffered different transfers and losses throughout the centuries.
Identified by the museum as Saint Jude Thaddeus, Saint Simon appears standing, with his left leg forward and with his head turned to the same side, wearing a tunic fastened with a belt, under which the shirt and cloak over his shoulders are showing. He holds a book, undoubtedly the Gospels, in his left hand and his instrument of martyrdom, the saw, in his right. As in the Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Bartholomew from the same tomb of Juan de Padilla and today in Boston, the detail with which the hands have been treated is surprising, sliding the index finger of the left hand between the pages of the volume and the face, with hair falling in sinuous braids that frame an expressive face, with a half-open mouth and whose eyes even show the pupils. Much more than could be expected in a work that was to be placed quite high and that speaks clearly of the quality of Siloé's workshop. The treatment of the folds is somewhat simplified, undoubtedly also to contribute to the stability of the image on its shelf.
According to Wethey, the head of Saint Simon is reminiscent of that of Saint James the Less from the tomb of the infant Don Alfonso in the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores.
Locations
1500 - XIXth c.
1916 - 1917
dealer/antiquarian
Bacri Frères, Paris (France) *
1917 - present
Bibliography
- ASSAS, Manuel de (1878): Monumentos arquitectónicos de España. Monasterio de Fresdelval, Imprenta de Fortanet, Madrid.
- FRANCO MATA, María Ángela (1978): "Tres esculturas góticas procedentes del Monasterio de Fresdelval (Burgos) en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional", vol. 81, nº 4, en Revista de Archivos Bibliotecas y Museos.
- GILLERMAN, Dorothy (ed.) (1989): Gothic Sculpture in America: 1. The New England Museums, International Center of Medieval Art, Nueva York.
- GÓMEZ BÁRCENA, María Jesús (1988): Escultura gótica funeraria en Burgos, Excma. Diputación Provincial, Burgos.
- PAYO HERNANZ, René Jesús y ZAPARAÍN YÁÑEZ, María José (2019): "“Lujo más allá de la muerte. Fundaciones monásticas y sepulcros de alabastro de algunas de las familias de la nobleza en Burgos a finales de la Edad Media”", nº 7, en ARS & RENOVATIO.
- VASALLO TORANZO, Luis (2019): "“Felipe Bigarny a la luz de su testamento e inventarios de bienes”", vol. XCII, nº 366, en Archivo Español de Arte.
- WETHEY, Harold E. (1936): Gil de Siloe and His School: A Study of Late Gothic Sculpture in Burgos, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
- YARZA LUACES, Joaquín (1991): Gil de Siloé, vol. 16, Historia, Madrid.
- YARZA LUACES, Joaquín, e IBÁÑEZ PÉREZ, Alberto C.(eds.) (2001): Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre Gil Siloe y la escultura de su época, Institución Fernán González-Caja de Burgos, Burgos.
Record manager
Miguel Hermoso CuestaCitation:
Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, "Saint Simon" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/251
Saint Jude
