Title

Arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse

Pietro, Lando di [attributed to] (Active in Siena, Florence and Naples)

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Inscriptions / Marks

HIC EST OS BRACHII SCI. LVDOVICI EPISCOPI ("This is the bone from the arm of St Louis, bishop").

Object history

This arm reliquary, which housed a bone of St Louis of Toulouse, comes, like its companion, an arm reliquary that housed a bone of St Luke (now also in the musée du Louvre), from the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo (Valladolid). Both were practically posthumous acquisitions by the famous Austrian collector Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890), who settled in Paris. The circumstances of their acquisition, which are certainly bizarre, are narrated in detail by Edmond Bonnaffé (a contemporary and acquaintance of Spitzer). His account is significant about the functioning of the art market in those years. The curious can find in Bonnaffé's article in the bibliography all the information, which is summarized here. Two partners, itinerant wine sellers, arrived at the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo (it must have been c. 1888). There the superior offered them the two arm reliquaries. As she was asking a lot of money for them, the dealers declined their acquisition, but, from then on, one tried to deceive the other by acquiring them on his own (evidently, to resell them for maximum profit). The deceived one transmitted all his information to Spitzer in case it was of interest to him. Meanwhile, the nuns, in need of money, entrusted the sale of the two arms reliquaries to a lady ("une dame"). The woman took them to Paris and sold them to a Mr "M.", who dealt in this type of objects, who, in turn, sold them to a Mr "S.". We do not know how Spitzer got hold of them shortly before his death.

When Spitzer died on April 23, 1890, his widow consulted Bonnaffé about which work from his collection would be the most appropriate to be donated to the Louvre in memory of her husband, and the scholar did not hesitate to suggest the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse: Spitzer's widow immediately accepted. Thus, this work entered the musée du Louvre in 1891, while its companion, the arm reliquary of St Luke, was sold with the rest of the Spitzer collection in 1893. The acquisition of the latter by the museum in 1983 meant that, after almost a century of separation, the two arm reliquaries from the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo were once again together, displayed in a place of honour in the galleries dedicated to "objets d'art" of the museum, as befits the extraordinary category of the pieces, which, despite their Castilian provenance, are works of the highest level of goldsmithing of the Angevin court of Naples.

To understand the presence of these two Neapolitan pieces in a convent in the Valladolid town of Medina del Campo, it is necessary to go back to the origins of the convent from which they come, paying attention also to the heraldry exhibited by the two pieces.

The convent of Santa María de las Dueñas, of Dominican nuns, was founded in 1418 from the conversion of an old monastery of Premonstratensian nuns dating back to the 13th century. Its founder was Eleanor of Alburquerque (d. 1435), dowager queen of Aragon as the wife of Ferdinand I of Antequera (1412-1416), the first Aragonese monarch of the House of Trastámara. Eleanor of Alburquerque retired to this monastery, died there and is buried there. In these years, Medina del Campo was one of the most important towns of the Crown of Castile and was closely linked to the royal houses of Castile and Aragon (both Ferdinand I, who held the lordship of the town and lived there before acceding to the throne of Aragon, and his sons and successors Alfonso V and John II were from Medina).

The arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse presents in enamel both together and separately the heraldry of the House of Anjou and the House of Barcelona, which refers unequivocally to the time of the king of Naples Robert the Wise (1309-1343) and his second wife Sancia of Majorca (d.1345). Robert the Wise was the brother of St Louis of Toulouse, who died in 1297 and was canonised in 1317, and had benefited from the latter's Franciscan vocation, which led him to renounce his rights to succession to the throne of Naples. For this reason, Robert the Wise promoted his cult and his image: as part of this strategy, he commissioned from Simone Martini a large panel depicting the saint giving Robert the crown, which is in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, and, later, either he or his wife (or both) commissioned the reliquary that concerns us, whose realisation is, fortunately, documented, albeit indirectly: in 1336 the rock crystal cylinder that once housed the relic was purchased, and in 1338 the cases in which this arm reliquary and its companion the arm reliquary of St Luke were to be kept were paid for, destined for the royal treasury of Naples, kept in the city's Castel Nuovo.

The question is: how did this arm reliquary and its companion, the arm reliquary of St Luke, pass from the royal treasury of Naples to the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo? The tradition of the house says that they were left to the convent by its founder, the dowager queen of Aragon Eleanor of Alburquerque: "un braço del glorioso evangelista san Lucas; un braço del bienaventurado san Luys, obispo, hijo del rey de Sicilia, religioso de la orden del bienaventurado san Francisco" (an arm of the glorious evangelist St Luke; an arm of the blessed St Louis, bishop, son of the king of Sicily, religious of the order of the blessed St Francis; López 1613, p. 31). But, even taking this information as valid, the question remains: how did this reliquary and its companion the arm reliquary of St Luke pass from the royal treasury of Naples into the hands of the dowager queen of Aragon Eleanor of Alburquerque?

There are additional heraldic evidences that must be taken into account: the two arm reliquaries were endowed at a later time than their creation with bases, octagonal in the case of that of St Louis of Toulouse and hexagonal in the case of that of St Luke, with heraldry combining the arms of Castile (in preferential position) and of Aragon. This heraldry was interpreted by Danielle Gaborit-Chopin as corresponding to Eleanor of Aragon (d. 1382), queen of Castile as wife of Henry II (1366-1379). From Eleanor of Aragon they would have passed to her second son, the future king of Aragon Ferdinand I, and from him to his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque, who would end up donating them to the Medina convent founded by her. Eleanor of Aragon would have received these reliquaries for family reasons, since two of her great-grandmothers, Blanche of Anjou on her father's side and Eleanor of Anjou on her mother's side, were sisters of St Louis of Toulouse and Robert the Wise. Although this proposal is well argued, it does not convince us. If we leave aside the by no means small material and aesthetic value of the reliquaries and we look at their spiritual value (an arm of the dynastic saint of the royal house of Naples and an arm of an evangelist), it does not seem reasonable that objects of such category are circulating a few years after the creation of the reliquaries through the hands of second-class members of the dynasty until they end up in Castile (especially in such convulsive contexts as the last years of the reign of Joanna I of Naples or the arrival to the throne of the Durazzeschi). On the other hand, although the combination of the heraldry of Castile in a preferential position and of Aragon is indeed appropriate for Queen Eleanor of Aragon, the form in which it is presented on the bases of the reliquaries (in a single shield parted per pale) does not coincide with the few original heraldic testimonies that are preserved of this queen, in whose seals, in accordance with the heraldic customs of the 14th century, the heraldry of Castile appears surrounded by the heraldry of Aragon (that is to say, without both arms appearing on a single coat of arms). Finally, the bulky incised vegetal decoration on the bases of the reliquaries is more typical of the first half of the 15th century than of the third quarter of the 14th century.

All these considerations lead us to rule out Queen Eleanor of Aragon as the owner, at a given moment in their history, of the reliquaries and as the channel through which they would have arrived, successively, to Ferdinand I of Aragon and his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque. We propose, instead, to attribute the heraldry present on the bases of the reliquaries to Mary of Aragon (d. 1445), daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque and queen of Castile as the first wife of John II (1406-1454). The combination of the heraldry of Castile in a preferential position and that of Aragon is appropriate for this queen (as it had been for her grandmother Queen Eleanor of Aragon), but, in addition, in this case, the way of presenting the heraldic emblems in a single shield parted per pale is in keeping with the customs of the Castilian royal house of the 15th century and is documented in the Dominican convent of Santa María la Real de Nieva (Segovia). And, in any case, it is documented that she possessed the two reliquaries. In fact, they appear in the inventory of the queen's possessions made at her death in 1445, studied by Santiago González Sánchez: "Un braço de Sant Luys en un uaso largo de xristal con una mano, e el asiento es de plata dorada. Otro braço de Sant Lucas guarnida por esta mesma manera. Anbas reliquias tomó la dicha señora del monasterio de Santa María la Real, çerca de Medina" (An arm of St Louis inside a long crystal vase with a hand, and the base if made of silver gilt. Anothe arm of St Luke adorned in this very same way. Both relics took the aforementioned lady from the monastery of Santa María la Real, by Medina; González Sánchez, 2024, pp. 70-72 and 76-78).

It is important to note that this document says that Queen Mary of Aragon "took" these relics from the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo (i.e., she was not their owner, but had taken them, so it can be assumed that, after her death, they would return to the convent). Queen Mary of Aragon was also born in Medina del Campo and, being queen of Castile, it can be assumed that she would visit the town frequently, since her mother, the dowager queen of Aragon Eleanor of Alburquerque, lived there in the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas, which she herself had founded and in which she would be buried (and which would be benefited by Queen Mary of Aragon in her will). These visits provide the appropriate framework for Queen Mary of Aragon to borrow the two reliquaries. Once in her possession, she would endow them with the silver gilt bases that show her heraldry, which, obviously, must be the work of a Spanish workshop, possibly Castilian.

With Queen Eleanor of Aragon eliminated from the object history of these reliquaries, the question remains as to how these reliquaries passed from the royal treasury of Naples into the hands of the dowager queen of Aragon Eleanor of Alburquerque. In this case, there is no additional heraldic evidence to guide us, but we think that the most appropriate context is the stay in Naples between 1420 and 1423 of her son King Alfonso V of Aragon (1416-1458). The convulsive reign of Joanna II of Naples (1414-1435) led this sovereign to demand the presence in the city of Alfonso V of Aragon to fight her enemies. Joanna II, who had no children, designated Alfonso V of Aragon as her successor in 1420. The subsequent estrangement between Joan II and her heir led the queen of Naples to revoke her decision and designate Louis III of Anjou as her successor. Alfonso V of Aragon left Naples in 1423. In this context, it is conceivable that Joanna II gave to Alfonso V such remarkable pieces of the Neapolitan royal treasure as these reliquaries (or that Alfonso V took them, since for a time he had complete control of the Castel Nuovo) and, on his return to the peninsula, had them delivered to his mother in Medina del Campo.

In many descriptions of the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse that now concerns us, the presence of a last heraldic element is noted: a shield parted per fess, the first or and the second gules, with a brochant cross recercelée, with the tinctures inverted with respect to the field in which each part of the cross is located. Scholars usually identify these arms as corresponding to the town of Medina del Campo. The present writer does not see these arms on the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, so its study is reserved for the arm reliquary of St Luke.

Description

The arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse is conceived as a mount of architectural design for the rock crystal cylinder, probably of Venetian manufacture, which was purchased in 1336 from the Neapolitan merchant Gentile Molettino. Those who study this type of material point out that it is one of the largest and most remarkable pieces of rock crystal of the Middle Ages. In contrast to the architectural character of the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, the "naturalistic" character of the arm reliquary of St Luke is often emphasised, which, in effect, evokes a forearm dressed in a sleeve.

If we focus on the part that is properly goldsmith's work in the reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, we see that, on the base added by queen Mary of Aragon, there is, in the first place, a base with translucent enamels with vegetal motifs of great quality. From this base start the four slender buttresses crowned by pinnacles that encircle the rock crystal cylinder, joined at the top by trilobed arches. The reliquary is topped by an extraordinarily naturalistic embossed silver gilt hand that, as befits the episcopal status of the saint whose relic was housed in the reliquary, blesses and wears a ring on the ring finger (which, however, does not correspond to the original state of the reliquary).

The translucent enamels refer very directly to Sienese works of the 14th century, both for the technique and for the way in which the vegetal motifs are developed. This finding has led Pierluigi Leone de Castris to attribute this arm reliquary to Lando di Pietro, one of the most important Sienese goldsmiths of the 14th century, who is known to have worked for Robert the Wise of Naples around the same time as this arm reliquary was made. For Leone de Castris, on the other hand, its companion the arm reliquary of St Luke, where only opaque enamels are found, would be the work of a different artist, probably a French goldsmith in the service of the Angevin court. These assessments do not enjoy unanimous acceptance among scholars: some stress, first of all, that the known dates of the manufacture of the reliquary and of Lando di Pietro's stay in Naples are difficult to reconcile and say, moreover, that the two arm reliquaries are part of a unitary project that must have been executed by a single artist, so that the presence of only opaque enamels on the arm reliquary of St Luke would not be due to the fact that its maker was not Sienese, but to the different character of this arm reliquary, which, as has been pointed out, has a more naturalistic character.

Locations

• First half of the XV^th c. - ca. 1888

  convent

  Convent of Santa María de las Dueñas, Medina del Campo, Medina del Campo (Spain)

• ca. 1888 - ca. 1890

  dealer/antiquarian

  Art market, Paris, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1890 - 1891

  private collection

  Frédéric Spitzer, Paris (France) *

• 1891 - present

  museum

  Louvre Museum, Paris (France)