Title

Three panels from a tabernacle-altarpiece dedicated to St John the Baptist

Anónimo castellano

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

Left panel of the left wing, 41.42 x 8.46 in. (inv. no Śr. 218/3):

• above the upper register: '[I]OANIS' (John).
• above the lower register: 'DONZELA' (Maiden).

Right panel of the left wing, 36.10 x 13.43 in. (inv. no Śr. 218/2):

• above the upper register: 'IHESUS' (Jesus), 'APÓSTOLES' (Apostles).
• abover the lower register: 'ERODES' (Herod), 'REINA' (Queen).

Left panel of the right wing, 36.14 x 13.11 in. (inv. no Śr. 218/1):

• above the upper register: 'IOANIS' (John), 'IHESUS' (Jesus).
• above the lower register: 'IOANIS' (John).

Object history

The three panels preserved from this tabernacle-altarpiece entered the Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie in 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, together with a series of works coming from the region of Silesia, among which there was a panel from a second Castilian tabernacle-altarpiece. It can be assumed that their presence in this region, which, after the war, was incorporated into Poland, was due to the movements of works of art caused by the conflict, but the truth is that there is no precise information about when or how they arrived there. Regarding their previous history, the only thing that is known is what is told by the panels themselves: on the back of two of them is written: 'aus Paris / angekauft durch Professor Haupt - Hannover' (from Paris / purchased through Professor Haupt - Hannover). This inscription undoubtedly identifies their earliest known purchaser with the German architect and scholar Albrecht Haupt (1852-1932). For this reason, in studies on Castilian tabernacle-altarpieces, this ensemble is designated as Haupt I altarpiece. From the inscription it can be deduced that Haupt acquired the panels in the Parisian antiquarian market, but we do not know when or for what purpose, as there is no record that he was a collector (on the other hand, the use of the preposition 'durch' suggests that Haupt acted, rather, as an agent or as an intermediary). Haupt was involved in the creation of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Hannover, founded in 1885. Did Haupt acquire these panels for the Kunstgewerbemuseum? If so, the reference to Hannover in the inscription seems idle, and in any case, we have found no trace of this possibility in the Museum August Kestner in Hannover, heir to the Kunstgewerbemuseum. Although there is no information on the ultimate origin of these panels, their stylistic and iconographic features suggest that they were created in Burgos or in its immediate area of influence c. 1330-40.

Description

The Haupt I altarpiece is one of the most outstanding examples of a 14th century Castilian tabernacle-altarpiece, both because of its well-preserved structure (three of the four panels that usually make up this type of altarpiece are preserved) and because of the singularity of its iconographic program, dedicated to St John the Baptist, and also because of the quality of its paintings. The two panels of the left wing and one panel of the right wing are preserved. Open, the altarpiece showed the story of St John the Baptist, whose image would have been housed in the baldachin, the central element of any tabernacle-altarpiece. In the left wing, the scenes run without solution of continuity across its two panels. In the upper register, the Calling of the first apostles is represented. In the lower register, the Feast of Herod is represented, which also includes the Presentation of the head of St John the Baptist. In the only preserved panel of the right wing is represented, in the upper register, the Baptism of Christ and, in the lower register, the Beheading of St John the Baptist. Closed, the altarpiece showed on its front the depictions of St Paul and St Peter (since the right panel of the right wing has not been preserved, only St Paul survives), while its sides were decorated with stars. In the Feast of Herod, the representation of Salome as a female minstrel playing a fiddle while dancing, is one of the most beautiful images of Castilian painting of the linear Gothic style of the 14th century.

Locations

• ca. 1900

  province

  Possible origin in the province of Burgos, Burgos (Spain)

• ca. 1900 - Early XX^th c.

  dealer/antiquarian

  Art market, Paris, Paris (France) *

• Early XX^th c.

  private collection

  Albrecht Haupt, Hannover (Germany) *

• 1946

  region

  Silesia, Polonia, República Checa y Alemania (Poland)

• 1946 - present

  museum

  Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Varsovia (Poland)