A Donor and Saint James the Great (wing of an altarpiece)
possibly Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai c.1399 – Brussels 1464)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1455 - 1464
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
675 x 402 mm
Place of origin
Flanders (Belgium from 1830)
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486179.1
Caption
This is one of two wings of an altarpiece. The other, depicting the Virgin Annunciate is also at Petworth. The original form and content of the altarpiece is a matter for conjecture. The donor, as yet unidentified is accompanied by a patron Saint, in this case Saint James. It is possible that he shared his first name with the Saint, hence his inclusion in the picture. The Saint is shown wearing the pilgrim’s broad-brimmed hat and cloak; and from his shoulder hangs the pilgrim’s wallet; a shell - his special attribute - is shown on his hat. The dress and hairstyle of the donor suggests a dating of around 1452-5. The attribution is derives from the simplicity and clarity of design and the hard and spare style which can be paralleled in paintings done by Rogier towards the end of his life.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, A Donor and Saint James the Great, possibly Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai c.1399 – Brussels 1464), circa 1455. One of two wings of a fifteenth-century altarpiece of a kneeling donor presented by Saint James the Great. The donor is facing three-quarters right with his hands together in an attitude of prayer, dressed in a long red robe, trimmed with fur and with a fur collar. The Saint stands in a white robe, at left, with white stockings, a purse on his right hip hanging from a strap from his left shoulder and on the upturned front rim of his hat is a cockle shell. He holds a staff in his left hand. The donor has not been identified but the work was presented to an unknown church in Italy.
Provenance
In the collection of the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) by 1835; thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Makers and roles
possibly Rogier van der Weyden (Tournai c.1399 – Brussels 1464), artist
References
Remastered - Bosch to Bellotto: An Exhibition of Petworth's European Old Masters (exh cat) (Andrew Loukes) Petworth House, West Sussex, 9 January - 6 March 2016, cat. 1