Master of Liesborn | Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict | NG260

Key facts

Full title	Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict: Fragment of the Crucifixion Scene
Artist	Master of Liesborn
Artist dates	active second half of the 15th century
Series	The Liesborn Altarpiece
Date made	probably 1470-80
Medium and support	Oil on canvas, transferred from oak
Dimensions	55.9 x 70.8 cm
Acquisition credit	Bought, 1854
Inventory number	NG260
Location	Room 62
Art route(s)	A
Collection	Main Collection

Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict

Master of Liesborn

This is a fragment from an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, and is one of three in our collection from the altarpiece’s central Crucifixion scene. The fluttering drapery at the top right is part of Christ’s loincloth, which situates this fragment to the right of the Cross.

The figure on the left wearing red robes is Saint John, who, according to the Bible, was present at the Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary. John is shown here with two fifth-century saints, the twins Benedict and Scholastica. Benedict was the founder of the religious order, the Benedictines, who worshipped at Liesborn. Scholastica holds a crosier carved with the Old Testament scene of the sacrifice of Isaac; in Christian theology, the event was interpreted as foretelling Christ’s own sacrifice at his crucifixion.

This is a fragment from an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. It comes from the central scene of the Crucifixion and is one of two fragments, both in our collection, that show saints standing at the base of the Cross. Another section of the scene, showing Christ’s head, is also in our collection.

The figure on the left wearing red robes is Saint John (described in the Gospel of John only as ‘the beloved disciple’, he is thought to be John the Evangelist). He wrings his hands in grief. The artist has taken great care painting his hair: his blond curls are a brighter shade where they catch the light. According to the Bible, Saint John and the Virgin Mary were both at the Crucifixion, and so they are often shown together in Crucifixion scenes. It was not uncommon in Westphalian painting to include other saints with the Virgin and John. Beside John here are the fifth-century twins Saint Benedict, the founder of the Benedictines, the religious order who worshipped at Liesborn, and Saint Scholastica, who is shown as a Benedictine abbess. She holds a crosier carved with the Old Testament scene of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22: 1–9), when God commanded Abraham to kill his son Isaac, as a test of the man’s faith. In Christian theology the event was interpreted as foretelling Christ’s own sacrifice at his crucifixion.

When the panel was cleaned, the fluttering drapery at the top right was revealed beneath gilding. It is part of Christ’s loincloth and it situates the group of saints to the right of the Cross, confirming that this fragment belonged to the central scene. It was probably covered up when the altarpiece was dismembered, as the panel would have been easier to sell as an individual work with a unified gold background. A strip of decorative punchmarks on the right indicates the edge of the scene. The scene has been removed from its original wooden panel and transferred to canvas.

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Saints John the Evangelist, Scholastica and Benedict by Master of Liesborn

The Liesborn Altarpiece

These images once formed part of a large altarpiece made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion, flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy.

In 1517 two shutters painted by the Master of Cappenberg were added to either side of the Master of Liesborn’s original panel. These showed the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, his resurrection and events that occurred afterwards, such as the Pentecost.

The altarpiece was removed in the eighteenth century and later cut up; only fragments survive. Six images from the main panel are in the National Gallery’s collection: three fragments of the central Crucifixion, two complete flanking images (The Annunciation and The Presentation in the Temple) and a fragment of The Adoration of the Kings, another flanking scene. Two further images come from the shutters.

These paintings are fragments from an altarpiece – one of the largest of its time – made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The high altar was consecrated in 1465 by Abbott Heinrich von Kleve and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saints Cosmas, Damian and Simeon, all of whom feature on the altarpiece.

The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy, one on top of the other. In 1517, about 40 years after the main panel was completed, two shutters were commissioned from a different artist, the Master of Cappenberg. These were painted on both sides, and depicted the events leading up to Christ’s death, his resurrection and events that took place afterwards. They were attached to the outer edges of either side of the main panel.

The altarpiece was removed and replaced with another painting in 1704. We do not know exactly when it was cut up into separate pieces but it may have been in the eighteenth century. Many of these fragments entered the National Gallery’s collection after they were acquired from the Kruger Collection in 1854. However, pictures from that collection were resold in 1857, enabled by a special Act of Parliament, and a large number are now in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster (not far from Liesborn); there are some in other collections too. Those retained by the National Gallery include three fragments of The Crucifixion: the head of Christ and two fragments of the figures standing at the base of the Cross, Saint John the Evangelist with Saints Scholastica and Benedict and Saints Cosmas and Damian with the Virgin. Four fragments now in Münster show angels gathering Christ’s blood in chalices – they would have been shown hovering beneath the wounds in his hands where he was nailed to the Cross.

Two of the scenes that surrounded the Crucifixion are also in the National Gallery’s collection: The Annunciation (which was at the top left) and The Presentation in the Temple (the lower of the two right-hand scenes). The other small fragment in our collection shows two of the kings kneeling to worship the infant Christ, who lies in his mother’s lap. This is the central part of The Adoration of the Kings, originally situated at the top right – other fragments from this scene are in Münster. This configuration of central image flanked by lateral scenes painted on the same panel was fairly common in Westphalian altarpieces of this date.

Two scenes from the shutters are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Christ before Pilate and The Coronation of the Virgin. Six scenes from these wings are in Münster (one of the six is on loan from a private collection).

The Liesborn Altarpiece

More paintings by Master of Liesborn