Title

The Mass of Saint Gregory

Cruz, Diego de la [attributed to] (Active in Burgos between 1480-1500)

Master of the Solomon of Fromista [attributed to] (Active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

The provenance of this panel is unknown, although it has been related to Diego de la Cruz and the Maestro del Salomón de Frómista, artists who worked in the Castilian environment. Silva Maroto (1990) is inclined to think that it was made by the latter, which would link the piece to the current provinces of Palencia and Burgos. This master had trained with Diego de la Cruz in Burgos, which makes the panel similar to La misa de San Gregorio that Diego de la Cruz made and which is currently in the Torelló collection.

In any case, the piece left Spain at the beginning of the 20th century and was part of the collection of Georges Chalandon, a collector from Lyon. It was later sold to Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co. in 1934 and remained in the New York headquarters until 1941. It then passed into the hands of Borislav Bogdanovich, who worked as an agent for Jean Neger until 1956, when it was sold to the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial. Finally, in 1993 the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the panel, where it is kept today.

Description

This painting responds to an iconographic type very repeated in the 15th century (Silva, 1990) and resembles the painting of The Mass of St. Gregory by Diego de la Cruz, which is in the Torelló Collection. The arma Christi occupies a large part of the composition: scourges, ropes, rods, rods and the whip. Likewise, five figures appear in the composition, Christ is standing on the altar and shows his wounds with his hands facing forward, recalling his passion. On the other hand, in the lower part are Saint Gregory, two cardinals and a smaller acolyte.

Locations

• XV^th c. - Early XX^th c.

  region

  Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Castilla y León (Spain)

• Early XX^th c. - ca. 1934

  private collection

  Chalandon Collection, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1934 - ca. 1941

  dealer/antiquarian

  Jacques Seligmann, New York (United States) *

• ca. 1941 - ca. 1956

  private collection

  Borislav Bogdanovich, New York (United States) *

• ca. 1956 - 1993

  private collection

  Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Filadelfia (United States) *

• 1993 - present

  museum

  Philadelphia Museum of Art, Filadelfia (United States)