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Hispanic-Flemish School. Circle of Alejo de Vahía? Circa 1500.
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Description
Hispanic-Flemish School. Circle of Alejo de Vahía? Circa 1500.
"James 'the Less'"
Carved wood sculpture, polychromed and lightly gilded.
86 x 32 x 23 cm
We present a magnificent sculpture of James "the Less" or James the Younger, which may have originally belonged to an Apostolate arranged on the predella of a Hispanic-Flemish altarpiece. There is no doubt that it was part of an altarpiece, as the back is not carved, but simply hollowed out to reduce its weight.
The saint stands upright, with one leg forward, a movement reflected in the knee under the tunic. He turns and raises his head, directing his gaze towards the sky, while turning the palm of his left hand upwards to point to the heavens with his index finger. In the other hand, he holds a club or mace, an attribute with which the apostle James the Less is usually depicted and which was also the "instrument" with which he was martyred, as a fuller broke his skull with a blow from his mace. He wears a long tunic that covers his body to the ankles and is cinched at the waist with a simple belt. Although it has lost some of its polychromy, the tunic was decorated with delicate gilded sgraffito floral motifs. Over this, he wears a voluminous mantle open at the shoulder, partly gathered under this arm and polychromed with reddish tones on the outside and greenish tones on the inside, the latter decorated with a fine border along its edge. The main decorative motifs of the mantle are also floral or of vegetation. Both garments are traversed by thick, naturalistic, curved folds in the mantle and horizontal folds in the tunic.
The hands are carved with remarkable naturalism and delicacy, with each and every finger individualised according to its size and shape, and even the tendons of the palm are discernible. The head, as is customary in the masters of the Hispanic-Flemish style, which is the last of the Gothic style in Spain, has an oval shape, with a face that is somewhat expressionless, curved eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, a broad nose, in this case, aquiline, a small, closed mouth, and prominent cheekbones. He has a symmetrical hairstyle which abundantly falls to his shoulders, composed of countless loops worked with a trepan, the same technique used for the copious beard. The work on all these strands of hair is meticulous, with deep carving in some of the loops, creating chiaroscuro effects.
This delicate piece was likely carved in a Castilian workshop around the year 1500 by a notable Hispanic-Flemish master, as it shows a clear Northern, Flemish, or Germanic origin in details such as the oval head, the arrangement of the hair in large, symmetrical, undulating and intertwined loops and strands, the pointed nose, or the straight mouth with thin lips. We believe that this master was familiar with the work of the Nordic sculptor Alejo de Vahía (ca. 1450-ca. 1515), who spent much of his life in the town of Becerril de Campos in Palencia and ran one of the most productive workshops in the Castilian environment in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, distributing his work throughout most of the provinces that currently make up the autonomous community of Castile and Leon, although with greater prominence in the region of Tierra de Campos, a large region that extends across the provinces of Palencia, Valladolid, Leon, and Zamora. It would not be surprising if this sculpture, created by a master from the circle of Alejo de Vahía, as indicated by its particular stylistic features, originated from a town in this region, with a higher likelihood of it being from the provinces of Palencia or Valladolid.
We would like to thank Dr. Javier Baladrón, Doctor of Art History, for the identification and cataloguing of this work.
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Hispanic-Flemish School. Circle of Alejo de Vahía? Circa 1500.
"James 'the Less'"
Carved wood sculpture, polychromed and lightly gilded.
86 x 32 x 23 cm
We present a magnificent sculpture of James "the Less" or James the Younger, which may have originally belonged to an Apostolate arranged on the predella of a Hispanic-Flemish altarpiece. There is no doubt that it was part of an altarpiece, as the back is not carved, but simply hollowed out to reduce its weight.
The saint stands upright, with one leg forward, a movement reflected in the knee under the tunic. He turns and raises his head, directing his gaze towards the sky, while turning the palm of his left hand upwards to point to the heavens with his index finger. In the other hand, he holds a club or mace, an attribute with which the apostle James the Less is usually depicted and which was also the "instrument" with which he was martyred, as a fuller broke his skull with a blow from his mace. He wears a long tunic that covers his body to the ankles and is cinched at the waist with a simple belt. Although it has lost some of its polychromy, the tunic was decorated with delicate gilded sgraffito floral motifs. Over this, he wears a voluminous mantle open at the shoulder, partly gathered under this arm and polychromed with reddish tones on the outside and greenish tones on the inside, the latter decorated with a fine border along its edge. The main decorative motifs of the mantle are also floral or of vegetation. Both garments are traversed by thick, naturalistic, curved folds in the mantle and horizontal folds in the tunic.
The hands are carved with remarkable naturalism and delicacy, with each and every finger individualised according to its size and shape, and even the tendons of the palm are discernible. The head, as is customary in the masters of the Hispanic-Flemish style, which is the last of the Gothic style in Spain, has an oval shape, with a face that is somewhat expressionless, curved eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, a broad nose, in this case, aquiline, a small, closed mouth, and prominent cheekbones. He has a symmetrical hairstyle which abundantly falls to his shoulders, composed of countless loops worked with a trepan, the same technique used for the copious beard. The work on all these strands of hair is meticulous, with deep carving in some of the loops, creating chiaroscuro effects.
This delicate piece was likely carved in a Castilian workshop around the year 1500 by a notable Hispanic-Flemish master, as it shows a clear Northern, Flemish, or Germanic origin in details such as the oval head, the arrangement of the hair in large, symmetrical, undulating and intertwined loops and strands, the pointed nose, or the straight mouth with thin lips. We believe that this master was familiar with the work of the Nordic sculptor Alejo de Vahía (ca. 1450-ca. 1515), who spent much of his life in the town of Becerril de Campos in Palencia and ran one of the most productive workshops in the Castilian environment in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, distributing his work throughout most of the provinces that currently make up the autonomous community of Castile and Leon, although with greater prominence in the region of Tierra de Campos, a large region that extends across the provinces of Palencia, Valladolid, Leon, and Zamora. It would not be surprising if this sculpture, created by a master from the circle of Alejo de Vahía, as indicated by its particular stylistic features, originated from a town in this region, with a higher likelihood of it being from the provinces of Palencia or Valladolid.
We would like to thank Dr. Javier Baladrón, Doctor of Art History, for the identification and cataloguing of this work.
Y nos dieron las 100...
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Lots: 84
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The purchase price includes the delivery of the lots in the venue of the auction. Transporting to other destinations is at the own risk of the client. The customer must contact "LST", to give the corresponding instructions for such transporting. "LST" is not responsible for the packaging or any accident incurred during transportation.
Important Information
This auction brings us to number 100!
On this special occasion, we present a careful selection of European and New Spanish works, including a previously unpublished painting by Luca Giordano, a magnificent private collection of medieval Spanish sculpture and wonderful examples of painting and sculpture from Spanish America art among other.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we did preparing it.
With our thanks to all those who have made it possible for us to get this far.
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