"Bishop Saint". Hispanic-Flemish. Anonymous. Circa... Lot 20

"Bishop Saint". Hispanic-Flemish. Anonymous. Circa 1500. White wooden sculpture, not polychromed. 95 x 28 x 20 cm. The anonymous Bishop Saint is outstanding due to the skill displayed in the sculptor’s treatment of the luxurious elements of the clothing. We do not know the identity of the portrayed saint because he does not have any attributes other than the staff and the book, which are shared by a multitude of saints. Perhaps it could be Saint Blaise, bishop of Sebaste and martyr, who was one of the most popular saints of the Western Middle Ages, thanks to the fame that the proliferation of his relics, most of them false, and his character as a miracle worker and healer gave him.  The saint features a stylized canon combined with pronounced stiffness and rigidity. Likewise, his body forms a compact block, ensuring that the extremities and the elements that accompany it remain attached to the body and protrude as little as possible. It does not have a carved back, body, mitre or staff, which indicates that it was probably conceived to be an altarpiece image. His face is inexpressive with a serious countenance, as if the character were concentrating. His facial features comprise almond-shaped eyes with very marked eyelids, bulging cheeks and cheekbones, a sharp nose with a rounded tip that takes the shape of an isosceles triangle, a very deep nasolabial fold, marked, thin lips, a closed mouth and a prominent chin. The mitre hides most of his hair, releasing only the unruly locks that cover his ears.  According to his episcopal status he wears an alb, chasuble and cape richly adorned at the edge with a decorative fringe (rhomboid motifs alternately separated by three circles or by two equilateral triangles with the points facing each other) topped by fringes and fastened to the chest by means of a medallion and carries a short mitre inlaid with precious stones, as well as a staff. The grandiose garments are characterized by their deep perpendicular folds that form rounded volumes, and by the details of an anecdotal-decorative nuance that has led the anonymous sculptor to faithfully imitate the qualities of the garments and especially of the brocades, resolved through elaborate designs with which he seeks to indicate the nobility of the fabrics. Especially interesting is the way in which the staff has been conceived, with the lower part covered by a narrow helical strip decorated with circular motifs, and a more elaborate and decorated upper part that ends in a curve with a large rosette.  Its state of preservation is exceptional, with only a slight crack on the back. The work would have been made by an anonymous Hispano-Flemish Gothic sculptor around the year 1500.  We would like to thank D. Javier Baladrón, doctor in Art History, for the identification and cataloguing of this work.