Saint Nicholas of Myra (or Bari)
Flemish School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1500 - 1520
Materials
Limewood
Measurements
590 x 245 x 160 mm
Place of origin
Flanders
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 514377
Summary
Limewood, figural group with Saint Nicholas of Myra (or Bari), Flanders, perhaps Bruges, c. 1500-20. A figural group carved of limewood, with Saint Nicholas of Myra (or Bari) and the three murdered boys whom he saved through one of his miracles. The saint stands dressed in bishop’s vestments and wearing a mitre on his head; his right hand is raised in blessing whilst with his left he holds a bishop’s staff or crook. Before him is a wooden tub, in which are the naked figures of the three boys, one of whom is climbing out of the tub. The sculpture was made in Flanders in the early sixteenth century, perhaps in the city of Bruges. There are a number of restorations to the group, with some replacement pieces: the shaft of the staff; the saint’s right hand; the ribbon of his mitre; tips of saint’s hair. The saint’s head has been broken off and reattached, as has the tip of his right shoe. The statue was originally polychromed, but the paint has been almost entirely stripped off.
Full description
This is one of two Netherlandish wood sculptures at Anglesey Abbey depicting the fourth century saint, Nicholas of Myra (or Bari). Although Nicholas has long been one of the most popular of all Christian saints, almost nothing is known of his life. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in Lycia, in the south west of modern Turkey. From an early age he devoted his life to the service of God and became a priest. When his rich parents died, Nicholas distributed their wealth to the poor. The cult, documented from the sixth century, was long centred on the saint’s shrine at Myra. However, in 1087, after Myra had come under Ottoman control, the saint’s body was stolen by a group of Italian merchants and brought to Bari in Southern Italy, where it remains to this day, in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas became one of the most venerated and popular of saints; he is the patron saint of sailors, of Russia, Greece, Sicily and of the city of Aberdeen. Many legends are associated with Saint Nicholas, not least his extensive patronage of children and love of making gifts, which led to the development of the modern figure of Santa Claus. Among the acts attributed to Nicholas is his gift of three bags of gold to three young girls whose father had lost all his money, in order to provide them with dowries and rescue them from prostitution. Nicholas also rescued three unjustly condemned men from execution, as well as three young boys, the episode depicted in both the sculptures at Anglesey Abbey (the other is NT 514390). On visiting a certain city, Saint Nicholas discovered that a wicked innkeeper was in the habit of stealing small children, whom he killed and served to guests as meat. Nicholas searched the inn, to discover the bodies of three young boys being salted in a barrel of brine. On making the sign of the Cross over them, the children were brought back to life and then clambered out of the cask, with alacrity as seen in the sculpture! Because of this miracle, Nicholas is also worshipped as the patron saint of small children. This sculpture is Flemish work, from the early sixteenth century. It compares well with the depiction of the same episode in the three predella panels in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (Inv. NG 2213), with scenes from the Life of Saint Nicholas by the Bruges painter Gerard David (c. 1460-1523) for his altarpiece of Saint Anne, painted c. 1500-20. It may be that this sculpture was also made in Bruges; the faces of the three boys may be compared with the face of the Christ Child in a Virgin and Child group made in the city c. 1500-20, in the Gruuthusemuseum, Bruges (John W. Steyaert, Late Gothic Sculpture. The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat., Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 1994, pp. 210-11, no. 47). The Saint Nicholas with the three boys seems to have been amongst Lord Fairhaven’s earliest acquisitions for his new home at Anglesey Abbey. It was bought by him in Carcassonne in February 1930, along with two other sculptures, one the fragmentary stone sculpture of Christ also still at Anglesey Abbey (NT 516600). It may be seen proudly displayed, in a photograph in an article published in Country Life in December 1930. Jeremy Warren 2020
Provenance
Acquired by Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) on 5 February 1930 from Maison Nortes, Carcasonne, with two other sculptures for 1600 francs; Anglesey Abbey inventory 1932, p. 24, Living Room, valued at £40; Anglesey Abbey inventory 1940, p. 219, Garden Hall by Dining Hall, valued at £15; bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven with the house and the rest of the contents.
Makers and roles
Flemish School, sculptor
References
‘Anglesey Abbey, Lode, Cambridgeshire. An Inventory and Valuation of Furniture, Pictures, Ornamental Objects, Household Effects and A Collection of Miniatures.. prepared for Insurance Purposes’, Turner, Lord and Ransom, November 1932, p. 24. 'Anglesey Abbey, Lode, Cambridgeshire. An Inventory and Valuation of Furniture, Books, Ornamental Items & Household Effects .. prepared for Insurance Purposes’, Turner, Lord and Ransom, April 1940, p. 219. Christie, Manson & Woods 1971: The National Trust, Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge. Inventory: Furniture, Textiles, Porcelain, Bronzes, Sculpture and Garden Ornaments’, 1971, p. 147. Oswald 1930: Arthur Oswald, ‘Country Homes, Gardens Old and New: Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge. The Seat of Lord Fairhaven and Capt. The Hon. Henry Broughton’, Country Life, 27 December 1930, pp. 832-38., p. 834, fig. 3. Hussey 1954: Christopher Hussey, ‘A Fenlandscape Garden – II: Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, the Home of Lord Fairhaven’, Country Life, 25 March 1954, pp. 860-63., p. 862, fig. 8.