Title

Arm reliquary of St Luke

Anónimo francés [attributed to]

Generic classification

Object

Date

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

HIC Ē. OS BRACHII SCI. LVCE EVANGELISTE ("This is the bone from the arm of St Luke, evangelist").

Object history

This arm reliquary, which housed a bone of St Luke, comes, like its companion, an arm reliquary that housed a bone of St Louis of Toulouse (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 museum in 1891, while its companion, the arm reliquary of St Luke, was sold with the rest of the Spitzer collection in 1893. From this moment until its acquisition by the museum in 1983, which allowed, after almost a century of separation, the two arm reliquaries from the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo to be reunited, the fate of the arm reliquary of St Luke can be followed through its periodic appearances on the art market. In 1898 it was sold by Christie's of London along with the rest of the collection of the recently deceased Martin Heckscher. It subsequently belonged to the Astor family. In 1983 it was sold by Sotheby's of London along with the rest of the collection that this family had at Hever Castle, which they had decided to get rid of. It was then acquired by the musée du Louvre.

Since then, the two Medina del Campo arm reliquaries are exhibited 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 Luke presents in enamel 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 Sancha of Majorca (d. 1345). The realisation of this reliquary must have run parallel to the realisation of its companion the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, since in 1338 the cases in which the two arm reliquaries were to be kept were paid for, destined for the royal treasury of Naples, kept in the Castel Nuovo of the city.

The question is: how did this arm reliquary and its companion, the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, 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 the arm reliquary of St Luke that now concerns us is present a last heraldic element: 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. It appears on a trilobed plaque that hides a break in the rock crystal vase that served as container for the relic (having as background the arms of Aragon) and on two of the four clamps that join the base of the reliquary with the hand, girding the rock crystal vase (those of the back part). Scholars usually identify these arms as corresponding to the town of Medina del Campo, but this town has never used such arms, which seem, rather, an early version of the arms of the order of St Dominic to which the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas belongs. This indicates that these restoration interventions were made when the reliquaries already belonged to the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo, either on the initiative of the dowager queen of Aragon Eleanor of Alburquerque, or on the initiative of the queen of Castile Mary of Aragon.

Description

The arm reliquary of St Luke was made from a rock crystal vase placed upside down, so that the container of the relic is presented as a truncated cone-shaped receptacle. It is often noted that, compared to the architectural character of the arn reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse, the arm reliquary of St Luke is more naturalistic, evoking a forearm dressed in a sleeve. On the base added by Queen Mary of Aragon, there is, in the first place, a wide truncated conical rim with opaque enamels with heraldic motifs and, at the opposite end, a rim that tends more to the cylindrical form, again with opaque enamels with heraldic motifs (and with epigraphy). In this case, the cylindrical shape has a certain plastic treatment to evoke as realistically as possible a cuff. Four clamps again with heraldic enamels join the two rims. Two of them are original and present the heraldry of the House of Anjou and two of them correspond to a restoration intervention, carried out when the reliquaries already belonged to the convent of Santa María de las Dueñas in Medina del Campo, since they present the heraldry that we interpret as an early version of the arms of the Order of St Dominic. To this same intervention would belong the trilobed plaque that, on one of the sections of the lower rim, hides a break in the rock crystal vase. The reliquary is topped by an extraordinarily naturalistic embossed silver gilt hand that, as befits the evangelist status of the saint whose relic is housed in the reliquary, holds a pen as if he were in the act of writing.

The translucent enamels on the arm reliquary of St Louis of Toulouse refer very directly to 14th century Sienese works. 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 - 1893

  private collection

  Frédéric Spitzer, Paris (France) *

• 1898

  private collection

  Martin Heckscher, Viena (Austria) *

• 1898

  auction house

  Christie's, London, London (United Kingdom)

• 1983

  castle

  Hever Castle, Kent, Hever (United Kingdom)

• 1983

  auction house

  Sotheby's, Nueva York / Londres

• 1983 - present

  museum

  Louvre Museum, Paris (France)