In 1486, Isabel of Castile, patroness of the explorer Christopher Columbus, commissioned an elaborate alabaster tomb for her parents, Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal. This star-shaped tomb, still standing in the center of the church of the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, outside Burgos, was made between 1489 and 1493 by Gil de Siloe, a sculptor thought to be of Netherlandish origin. This statuette of the patron saint of Spain is known from old photographs to have been originally placed near the head of the queen. The soft, translucent quality of alabaster provides an ideal medium for the artist's penchant for beautifully articulated drapery folds and facial details, which still bear traces of gilding and paint. Saint James is portrayed here as a pilgrim: a person who makes a journey to a sacred place as a holy act. As a traveler, he is shown well equipped with a staff, purse, water gourd, and traveler's hat, whose upturned brim is adorned with a scallop shell, the emblem of his shrine at Santiago de Compostela. Medieval pilgrims would similarly place such badges on their clothing to indicate the number of holy shrines they had visited.
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From the tomb of Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal in the Cartuja de Miraflores, outside Burgos, Spain; Conde de las Almenas, Madrid (sold 1927) ; his sale, American Art Association, New York (January 13-15, 1927, lot 361) ; said to be in a Private Collection, Boston (in 1934) ; Reginald de Covan, New York ; André Tressley, New York (sold 1969)
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Medieval Art from Private Collections," October 30, 1968–March 30, 1969.
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National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain," October 13, 2019–February 17, 2020.
Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. "Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain," March 29, 2020–January 10, 2021.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Riemenschneider's St. Jerome and Late Medieval Alabaster Sculpture," March 26, 2023–July 23, 2023.
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Sandoval, José. "El "Santiago" de Gil de Siloé en Manhattan y en la Cartuja de Miraflores." Peregrino: Revista del Camino de Santiago 149 (2013). p. 9.
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Lutz, Gerhard, ed. Riemenschneider and Late Medieval Alabaster. Lewes: D Giles Limited, 2023. pl. 15, pp. 25, 158–163.
Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Curator, explores the legend of Saint James and his shrine in Spain and the many depictions of him in the Met's collection.
Managing Horticulturist Caleb Leech discusses medieval attitudes toward the gourd, the history of the fruit, and its presence in the Bonnefont Herb Garden at The Cloisters.
Francí Gomar (Spanish, Aragon, active by 1443–died ca. 1492/3)
ca. 1456–1458
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