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Title

Saint Christopher

Maestro de San Ildefonso [attributed to]

Generic classification
Painting
Object
Painting
Date
ca. 1500
Century
Late 15th c.
Cultural context / style
Late Gothic
Dimensions
70 5/16 x 26 13/16 in
Material
Panel
Technique
Oil Painting
Iconography / Theme
San Cristóbal
Provenance
Monastery of Santa María de la Vega, Renedo de la Vega (Renedo de la Vega, Palencia, Spain)
Current location
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge [Massachusetts], United States)
Inventory Number in Current Collection
1948.35
Object history

This panel was part of an altarpiece and was probably located on a side panel or wing of the same. Although Post (1933) first attributed the painting to the school of Palencia, later (1938) he was inclined to attribute the piece to the Master of San Ildefonso, an authorship that is maintained today. This master was active in Castile in the 15th century, so the piece can be placed in this environment. Likewise, the dealer Luis Ruiz (Post, 1933; Gaya, 1958; Silva, 1990) affirmed that the piece originally came from the Monastery of Santa María de la Vega, located in Renedo de la Vega (Palencia).

If this was its original location, the piece could have left in many ways. We know that the Napoleonic troops passed through the monastery, expelled the monks and stole as much as they could from inside. Likewise, the disentailment decrees of 1835 declared the community extinct and awarded its assets to the state "ordering their sale and the application of the proceeds to pay off the public debt" (Yáñez, 1987). The larceny committed in the monastery resulted in the loss of countless works of art, among which this one was probably one of them. Be that as it may, in the first third of the 20th century the panel was in the hands of the antique dealer Luis Ruiz. In 1920 the piece was acquired by the Ehrich Galleries of New York, who sold it to Edward Waldo Forbes (Silva, 1990). Finally, Forbes donated the panel to the Fogg Museum in 1948, and it is currently kept in Cambridge (Massachusetts).

Description

According to tradition, a child approached Christopher asking him to help him cross a river, but as they progressed the infant became heavier and heavier. When they reached the shore the child revealed that he was Jesus and asked the saint to stick his staff into the ground. Thus a palm tree sprouted. This moment is depicted on the panel: St. Christopher carries a child on his back as he crosses a river and holds a staff that transforms into a palm tree.

Locations
* 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
  • GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio (1958): La pintura española fuera de España (historia y catálogo), Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, p. 93.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1938): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 7 (The Catalan School in the Late Middle Ages), nº 2, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), p. 862.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1933): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 4 (The Hispano-Flemish Style in North-Western Spain), nº 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), p. 193.
  • SILVA MAROTO, María Pilar (1990): Pintura hispanoflamenca castellana: Burgos y Palencia. Obras en tabla y sarga, vol. I, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, pp. 243-245.
  • TORRES BALBÁS, Leopoldo (1925): "Las ruinas de Santa María de la Vega (Palencia)", vol. 1, nº 3, Archivo español de arte y arqueología, pp. 317-320.
  • YÁÑEZ, Damián (1987): "El Monasterio Cisterciense de Santa María de la Vega", nº 57, Publicaciones de la Institución Tello Téllez de Meneses, pp. 67-102.
Citation:

Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Saint Christopher" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/378

DOI

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