Title
Panel from a tabernacle-altarpiece dedicated to an unkonwn saint
Generic classification
PaintingObject
Tabernacle altarpieceCentury
Mid 14th c.Cultural context / style
Linear GothicDimensions
42.13 x 6.81 in.Material
PanelTechnique
TemperaProvenance
Possible origin in the province of Burgos (Burgos, Spain)Current location
Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (Varsovia, Poland)Inventory Number in Current Collection
Śr. 219Inscriptions / Marks
Above the upper register (apex): '[A]NGELUS' (Angel).
Above the inermediate register: 'IOANIS' (John).
Above the lower register: 'GENTIL' (Heathen).
Object history
This panel 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 were three panels from a second Castilian tabernacle-altarpiece. It can be assumed that its presence in this region, which, after the war, was incorporated into Poland, was due to the movement of works of art caused by the conflict, but the truth is that there is no precise information about when or how it arrived there. Nothing is known about its previous history. Since it was part of the same lot as the three previously mentioned panels, recorded as having been acquired on the Parisian antiquarian market by the Hanover-based German architect and scholar Albrecht Haupt (1852-1932), the same provenance can be assumed for this panel. For this reason, in studies on Castilian tabernacle-altarpieces, the ensemble to which this panel belonged is designated as Haupt II altarpiece. Although there is no information about the ultimate origin of this panel, its stylistic features, especially its relationship with the three previously mentioned panels, suggest that it was created in Burgos or in its immediate area of influence in the middle of the 14th century.
Description
This panel was the left panel of the left wing of a tabernacle-altarpiece. When, as in this case, only one panel from an altarpiece of these characteristics is preserved, it is very difficult to understand its iconographic development. In fact, we cannot even know to which saint it was dedicated. From top to bottom, an angel, St John the Evangelist and a soldier brandishing a sword are represented. St. John the Evangelist and the soldier were part of larger compositions that would continue on the missing right panel of the left wing. The reverse of the panel shows the figure of St Paul, which would be visible when the altarpiece was closed.
Locations
ca. 1900
ca. 1900 - Early XXth c.
dealer/antiquarian
Art market, Paris, Paris (France) *
Early XXth c.
private collection
Albrecht Haupt, Hannover (Germany) *
1946
1946 - present
Bibliography
- ANDERSEN, Elisabeth (2020): "Closing the Tabernacle: European Madonna Tabernacles c. 1150–c. 1350", Medievalia, vol. 23, nº 1, pp. 73-74.
- DOBRZENIECKI, Tadeusz (1977): Catalogue of the Mediaeval Painting, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Varsovia, pp. 339-340.
- GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando (2018): "Pasear entre ruinas: retablos-tabernáculo castellanos de la Baja Edad Media", BSAA arte, vol. 84, p. 79.
- GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando (2020): "Minor or Major? Castilian Tabernacle-altarpieces and the Monumental Arts", Medievalia, vol. 23, nº 1, p. 256.
- KROESEN, Justin y TÅNGEBERG, Peter (2021): Helgonskåp: Medieval Tabernacle Shrines in Sweden and Europe, Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg, p. 101 y 219.
- MORILLO RODRÍGUEZ, Francisco M. y GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando (2021): Retablo Haupt II (retablos-tabernáculo de la Baja Edad Media en la Corona de Castilla, 33/38), Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid.
- RATKOWSKA, Paulina (1980): "The Remains of an Altarpiece with the Legend of St John the Baptist: An Unpublished Work of the Franco-Gothic Style in the National Museum in Warsaw", Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie, vol. 11, nº 1, pp. 3 y 10-13, il. 8-10.
- SŁAWOMIR Majoch (ed.) (2004): Templariusze. Historia i mit, vol. catálogo de exposición (Toruń, 2004), Muzeum Okręgowe w Toruniu,, Toruń, p. 116.
Record manager
Fernando Gutiérrez BañosCitation:
Fernando Gutiérrez Baños, "Panel from a tabernacle-altarpiece dedicated to an unkonwn saint" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/424
© Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie
© Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie
© Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie
MORILLO RODRÍGUEZ, Francisco M. y GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando: Retablo Haupt II (retablos-tabernáculo de la Baja Edad Media en la Corona de Castilla, 33/38). Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid, 2021
MORILLO RODRÍGUEZ, Francisco M. y GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS, Fernando: Retablo Haupt II (retablos-tabernáculo de la Baja Edad Media en la Corona de Castilla, 33/38). Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid, 2021