Title

St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome. Fragment of an altarpiece from the church of San Pablo, Palencia

painter

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

Generic classification

Painting

Object

Painting

Date

ca. 1450

Century

Mid 15th c.

Cultural context / style

International Gothic

Dimensions

45,66 x 24,21 in

Current location

Lady Lever Art Gallery (Port Sunlight, United Kingdom)

Inventory Number in Current Collection

LL 3427

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 dispersed 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 the 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 Alexandriaand Saints Margaret and Bartholomew).
Finally, four other panels are unaccounted for.

In 1909 a set of four panels, including this one, was in the collection of Francis Beaufort Palmer, although it is not known how he acquired them. Subsequently, on April 11, 1919, Christie's auctioned the pieces in lot 6 (Prieto, 2020). The firm of Gooden & Fox acquired the boards to sell to William Hesketh Lever for £624 (Sharples). Finally, the Viscount Leverhulme donated them to the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a museum he founded in honor of his wife in 1922 (Prieto, 2020).

Description

The panel was in the lower part of the altarpiece and represents the moment when Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins arrive in Rome after their pilgrimage. There they are received by a group of prelates including Pope Cyril. On their return they were martyred in the German city of Cologne by an army of Huns. The Valencian influence of the artist can be seen in the faces and the composition of the floor.

Locations

XV^th c. - Last quarter of the XIX^th c.
church
Church of San Pablo, Palencia, Palencia (Spain)
ca. 1909 - 1919
private collection
Francis Beaufort Palmer, London (United Kingdom) *
ca. 1919 - 1919
auction house
Christie's, London, London (United Kingdom)
ca. 1919 - 1920
auction house
Gooden & Fox, London (United Kingdom)
ca. 1920 - 1922
private collection
William Hesketh Lever, Wirral (United Kingdom) *
ca. 1922 - present
museum
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight (United Kingdom)

* The relative location of dealers, antique shops, art galleries, and collectors leads us to the places where they were based or had one of their main headquarters. However, this does not always indicate that every artwork that passed through their hands was physically located there. In the case of antique dealers and art merchants, their business often extended across multiple territories; sometimes they would purchase items at their origin and send them directly to clients. Similarly, some collectors owned multiple residences, sometimes in different countries, where they housed their collections. It is often difficult to determine exactly where a specific piece was kept during its time in their possession. Consequently, the main location of the dealer or collector is indicated. These factors should be considered when interpreting the map. Refer to the object's history in each case.

Bibliography

POST, Chandler Rathfon (1953): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 11 (The Valencian School in the Early Renaissance), Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 407-408.
POST, Chandler Rathfon (1933): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 4 (The Hispano-Flemish Style in North-Western Spain), nº 2, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 564-565.
PRIETO, Ester (2020): "La iglesia palentina de San Pablo: breve estudio sobre sus retablos (siglos XV-XVII)", ACCADERE. Revista de Historia del Arte, p. 95.
RODRÍGUEZ, María Victoria y PÉREZ, Fernando (1996): "Iconografía de Santa Úrsula en Palencia", en Actas del III Congreso de Historia de Palencia, Diputación Provincial de Palencia, Palencia, pp. 763-772.
SHARPLES, Joseph "St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome", en The National Inventory of Continental European Paintings, VADS: Univerity fot the Creative Arts.

Record manager

Isabel Escalera Fernández

Citation:

Isabel Escalera Fernández, "St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome. Fragment of an altarpiece from the church of San Pablo, Palencia" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/359

St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome

Lady Lever Art Gallery (Liverpool).

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Title

St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome. Fragment of an altarpiece from the church of San Pablo, Palencia

painter

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

Description

Locations

XVth c. - Last quarter of the XIXth c.

church

Church of San Pablo, Palencia, Palencia (Spain)

ca. 1909 - 1919

private collection

Francis Beaufort Palmer, London (United Kingdom) *

ca. 1919 - 1919

auction house

Christie's, London, London (United Kingdom)

ca. 1919 - 1920

auction house

Gooden & Fox, London (United Kingdom)

ca. 1920 - 1922

private collection

William Hesketh Lever, Wirral (United Kingdom) *

ca. 1922 - present

museum

Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight (United Kingdom)

Bibliography

Record manager

Citation:

St Ursula and the Virgins Arrive in Rome

Lady Lever Art Gallery (Liverpool).

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