Title

Saints Apollonia, Barbara, and Agatha

painter

Alejo Master (Active between 1485-1515)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

These three panels were originally part of the predella of an altarpiece. Post (1947) stated that their author was the Maestro de Sirga, so called because of his work in the church of Santa María la Blanca in Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia). However, he would later be known as Maestro Alejo, active in Castile between 1485-1515. This artist worked mainly in the current province of Palencia, which has led to consider that these panels were part of the altarpiece of the parish church of San Andrés, Villamediana (Palencia).

At the beginning of the 20th century the altarpiece began to dismember: one of the panels featuring Santa Marina ended up in the Mateu collection in Barcelona (Post, 1934); while Santas Apolonia, Bárbara and Águeda were sold in 1928 by the Galerie Heinemann in Munich to Joseph Winterbotham. Although the Art Institute of Chicago states that the date of sale was in 1926, the truth is that in the documentary records of the Galerie Heinemann (no. 18734), currently preserved in the Deutsches Kunstarchiv of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, it is detailed that the piece was purchased on December 8, 1928. Galerie Heinemann acquired the piece for 7,000 Swiss francs and subsequently sold it to Winterbotham for 1750 dollars. They were assisted in the sale by Professor Mayer, who stated that the work belonged to the workshop of Pedro Berruguete:

"The panel with Sa. Apollonia, Sa. Barbara, Sa. Agata reproduced by this photograph is in my opinion a charachteristic Castillian work, executed towards the end of the XVth century in the workshop of Pedro Berruguete, perhaps with the personal assistance of this leading Spanish Primitif".

However, we do not consider Mayer's attribution to be correct. At this time it was common to try to attribute works to known artists in order to increase the sale price, which may have motivated Mayer to claim that it was by Pedro Berruguete.

Joseph Winterbotham, a lumber businessman and collector, bought these panels for his residence in Burlington (Vermout). In 1936 he loaned the paintings for an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, of which he was a benefactor. In 1954 the panels were bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, where they remain today.

Description

These panels were probably part of the predella of an altarpiece. In the first place, Saint Apollonia appears holding a palm of martyrdom and tongs that allude to her martyrdom. She was born in the 3rd century A.D. in Alexandria and was educated to dedicate her life to Christ. However, in 249 a persecution against Christians began and Saint Apollonia suffered the consequences: an executioner pulled out her teeth with tongs (Borsari and Gassó, 2012).

Saint Barbara appears holding a tower, which also alludes to her martyrdom. She was from Nicomedia (Anatolian Peninsula) and devoted herself to the study of the liberal arts. Dióscoro, her father, upon learning of her Christian faith, locked her in a tower to separate her from the world. In spite of this, Barbara remained firm in her faith, rejecting paganism. As punishment, she was denounced and subjected to cruel tortures: she was whipped, burned and wounded, but miraculously her wounds healed. Finally, her own father beheaded her with his sword. According to legend, shortly afterwards, Dióscoro was struck by lightning as divine punishment (Cassidy-Welch, 2009; Gutiérrez Baños, 2020).

As for St. Agatha, she appears holding a palm of martyrdom and a tray with her breasts cut off, attributes of her martyrdom. She was a young Christian woman of Sicilian origin, martyred in the third century A.D. for refusing to renounce her faith and rejecting the proposals of the Roman governor Quincianus. As punishment, she was imprisoned and subjected to various tortures. The most brutal consisted of having her breasts torn off. According to tradition, she was miraculously cured by an apparition of St. Peter, but eventually died from further torture in prison (Réau, 1997).

The three figures are set against a gilded damask background. The folds of the saints' garments are voluminous. Their bulging eyelids and prominent noses are also striking.

Locations

• XV^th c. - Early XX^th c.

  church

  Church of San Andrés, Villamediana, Villamediana (Spain)

• ca. 1928

  dealer/antiquarian

  Galerie Heinemann, Múnich (Germany) *

• 1928 - 1954

  private collection

  Joseph Humphrey Winterbotham, Vermont (United States) *

• 1954 - 2025

  museum

  The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (United States)