Full title | Saint Peter and a Donor |
---|---|
Artist | Followers of Gerard David |
Artist dates | active 1484; died 1523 |
Series | Two Shutters from a Triptych |
Date made | probably about 1515 |
Medium and support | Oil on oak |
Dimensions | 81.3 x 27 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1860 |
Inventory number | NG657.1 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
A man kneels in prayer, his patron saint, Peter – identifiable by the key he holds – standing behind him. This panel was once the left wing of a triptych (a painting in three parts); the right wing, which shows his wife, is also in the National Gallery’s collection. These figures and the missing central panel would have been visible when the altarpiece was open.
When the altarpiece was closed you would have seen the back of the wings, which are painted in grisaille (shades of black, white and grey). On the back of this panel is Saint Jerome, monk, hermit and translator of the Bible. A small lion jumps up at him like an eager dog. While Jerome was living as a hermit in the desert he removed a thorn from a lion’s foot and it became his devoted companion.
A man kneels in prayer, his patron saint, Peter – identifiable by the key he holds – standing behind him. This panel was once the left wing of a triptych (a painting in three parts). The other wing, Saint Paul and a Donatrix, shows his wife with Saint Paul. We don't know who the donors were, but they were clearly wealthy people. The man seems to be in his thirties or forties, and is dressed in the style of around 1515.
These figures, and the missing central panel, would have been visible when the altarpiece was open. On the back of this panel, visible when the altarpiece was closed, is Saint Jerome, monk, hermit and translator of the Bible. He is painted in grisaille to look like a stone statue in a niche – a very popular effect in the Netherlands in the early Renaissance.
Saint Jerome is shown wearing a cardinal’s robes. While there were no cardinals in the fifth century, Jerome was the pope’s secretary; in such a role by the fifteenth century he would have been expected to be a cardinal. He holds an open book, presumably the Vulgate, the standard Latin text of the Bible which he spent so many years producing. Endearingly, a small lion jumps up at him like an eager dog. While Jerome was living as a hermit in the desert he removed a thorn from a lion’s foot and it became his devoted companion.
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Saint Peter and a Donor
Two Shutters from a Triptych
These paintings of a male and a female donor, probably husband and wife, once formed the wings of a triptych (a painting made up of three parts). They kneel in front of their patron saints, Peter and Paul.
We don't know who the couple were, but their clothing was fashionable in around 1515 and they were evidently wealthy: the woman has an expensive rosary of red and yellow beads, and a long train. She shows off large areas of costly furs in an open display of wealth.
The paintings seem to be the work of three artists, the most competent of whom drew and painted the donor. A second did the patron saints; the same artist, working quickly, or else a third, less talented, did the outside of the wings. All three were much influenced by Gerard David and were probably working in one of the larger Bruges workshops.
These paintings of a male donor and female donor – probably husband and wife – once formed the wings of a triptych (a painting made up of three parts). They kneel in front of their patron saints, Peter and Paul. On the outsides are Saints Jerome and Nicholas, depicted in grisaille.
We don't know who the couple were, but their clothing was fashionable in around 1515 and they were evidently wealthy: the woman has an expensive rosary and a long train, and is showing off large areas of costly furs in an open display of wealth. Their clothes are very similar to those worn by Lieven van Pottelsberghe and his wife in two portraits in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. The man may be the same rank as Lieven, who was Reciever General of Flanders between 1509 and 1517.
The paintings seem to be the work of three artists, the most competent of whom drew and painted the donors. A second did the patron saints; the same artist, working in haste, or else a third, less talented, did the outside of the wings. All three were much influenced by Gerard David and were probably working in one of the larger Bruges workshops of around 1515.


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