Title

Saints Bartholomew and Mary Magdalene. Fragment of an altarpiece from the church of San Pablo, Palencia

painter

Mateu, Jaume [attributed to] (Active in Valencia between 1402-1452)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

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Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This panel was part of an altarpiece dedicated to Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins. Thanks to a photograph belonging to the Ruiz Vernacci Archive (negative no. 2005), Post (1933) and Pérez and Rodríguez (1995) were able to confirm that it was located inside the convent of San Pablo de Palencia in 1879. Shortly thereafter it must have been dismantled and dismembered. At present the altarpiece is scattered in different museums and collections:

• Four panels from the upper part are in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid(Arrival in England of Saint Ursula, Request for the hand of Saint Ursula, The King of England is informed of the proposal of Saint Ursula, Baptism of Conan in the presence of Saint Ursula and his father).
• Four others are in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool(St. Ursula preaches to the eleven thousand virgins, St. Ursula and eleven thousand virgins arrive in Rome, St. Ursula before the king of the Huns, The martyrdom of the eleven thousand Virgins).
• Two of them are in the Zorn Museum, in Mora(St. Bartholomew and St. Mary Magdalene).
• Four figures of saints from the predella are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art(Saints Sebastian and Catherine of Alexandria and Saints Margaret and Bartholomew).
• Finally, four other panels are unaccounted for.

It is unknown how this panel came to the Zornmuseet in Sweden. However, it is known that the artist Anders Leonard Zorn traveled to Spain on numerous occasions (Sandström, 1992) and perhaps, as Prieto (2020) suggests, he was able to acquire it directly in the country. In any case, the painter's wife, Emma Lamm, founded the museum in 1939 in honor of her husband. Therefore, since the first third of the 20th century the panel has been in Mora, Sweden.

Description

This piece belonged to the predella of the altarpiece. It is divided into two panels where two saints are represented: Saint Bartholomew and Saint Mary Magdalene.

Saint Bartholomew, located in the left panel, is easily identifiable by the large knife he holds in his right hand, the instrument of his martyrdom, since he was flayed alive. He wears a richly decorated mantle.

St. Mary Magdalene occupies the right panel and is identifiable by the attribute she holds in her right hand: a container with perfume. According to the Gospel of St. Luke (7: 37-39): "There lived in that village a woman who was reputed to be a sinner. When she heard that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she came with an alabaster jar full of perfume. Weeping, she threw herself at Jesus' feet so that she bathed them in tears. Then she wiped them with her hair; she also kissed them and anointed them with the perfume." Like Saint Bartholomew, the saint appears richly attired in red.

Locations

• XV^th c. - Last quarter of the XIX^th c.

  church

  Church of San Pablo, Palencia, Palencia (Spain)

• Early XX^th c. - ca. 1920

  private collection

  Anders Leonard Zorn, Mora (Sweden) *

• ca. 1939 - present

  museum

  The Zorn Museum, Mora (Sweden)