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Saint Barbara

A work made of oil on panel.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of oil on panel.

Date:

c. 1520

Artist:

Jean Bellegambe
French, c. 1470-1535/36

About this artwork

Jean Bellegambe worked in Douai, in a part of northern France that was once part of the county of Flanders. These panels are the wings of a triptych, a three-paneled folding altarpiece, whose center (now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) shows the Virgin and Child enthroned under an elaborate architectural canopy. The two elegant saints are identifiable by their attributes: for Catherine, the wheel upon which she was tortured and the sword with which she was martyred; and for Barbara, the tower where her father locked her up to keep her safe from suitors. Saint Catherine also holds a ring, which the Christ Child in the Brussels panel reaches to grasp, thus indicating that their mystical union was the subject of the triptych. The tops of the two wings have been rounded off to mask their original function as moveable shutters to the left and right of the center panel. The backs and fronts of the wings were also separated; the backs of the wings, showing the Annunciation when the triptych was closed, are now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Status

On View, Gallery 202

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Jean Bellegambe

Title

Saint Barbara

Place

Belgium (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1515–1525

Medium

Oil on panel

Inscriptions

Inscribed: Et anima mea...et povere.. (on book)

Dimensions

32 3/8 × 11 1/16 in. (82.3 × 28.2 cm; painted surface: 32 1/8 × 10 3/4 in. (81.7 × 27.3 cm)

Credit Line

George F. Harding Collection

Reference Number

1983.377

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/100347/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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