Oil on oak panel, 'Altarpiece with the Crucifixion and Scenes from the Life of St Denis', French School, ca. 1525-ca. 1540

Five-panel polyptych representing the life of saint Denis atrticulated around the crucifixion of Christ with the figures of Mary and St John the Evangelist.

Purchased, 1895

Historical significance: This painting was probably an altarpiece to judge by the dimension and the central position of the Crucifixion of Christ. It relates the life of St Denis, articulated around the central scene of the crucified Christ flanked by Mary on the left and St John the Evangelist on the right. St Denis is known as the apostle of Paris and his story is narrated in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend among other sources.
His identity is confused with that of Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts XVII. 34) who was a philosopher in Athens when St Paul came to evangelise the people of Athens. He converted Dionysius (Denis in Latin) during an eclipse (scene 1 from the left) and taught him in the Christian principles of his faith for three years (scene 2). In this scene the throne-like altar in the background is empty and bears the inscription 'ignoto deo' ('unknown god') alluding to Dionysius' first answer when Paul asked him for the identity of God.
Dionysius was then made bishop of Athens and is represented as such in the second half of the retable. He went to Rome when he heard about St Paul and St Peter being held in prison. After their death, Pope Clement sent Dionysius to Paris where he evangelised and converted a great number of people. The Emperor Domitian ordered the Roman provost Sisinnus then to arrest him (scene 3) and torture him on a burning gridiron. It is only after a variety of tortures that he was eventually beheaded. The beheading is missing whereas it usually constitutes an important part of the story.
The altarpiece shares some similarities with the central surviving panel of an altarpiece painted between 1525 and 1540 for the Celestin Priory of Marcoussis, south of Paris (Louvre, Paris-Inv. 2175). The emaciated facial types with profound rings under the eyes and prominent cheekbones as well as the architectural elements are particularly close. The empty altar with the shell-shaped niche recalls the shell-shaped throne of Celestin while the fluted columns surmounted by acanthus leaves presents a similar however simplified design to the columns in scene 2. Some elements such as the moon and the sun as well as the small profile head painted under the arch in scene 2 are reminiscent of Dürer's woodcuts.
According to C.M. Kauffmann, the four scenes of the altarpiece can be found in a manuscript relating the legend of St Denis in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (ms fr. 2090-2) , dated 1317, and reproduced in H. Martin, Légende de S. Denis. Reproductions des miniatures du manuscrit original, Paris, 1908, pls. vi, vii, xii and xxxii.
Although the scenes differ considerably in composition, it is likely that the present painting was executed in the surroundings of Paris (where St Denis was a dedicated saint) by a local workshop looking at greater examples such as the Marcoussis altarpiece. The Renaissance architectural elements and the restrained use of gold indicate a date between 1520 and 1540.

In Italy, the altar became a primary setting for painting on panel - hence the appellation 'altarpiece' - a format developed in Western art from the example of Byzantine icons. An early format consisted in gabled vertical panels representing a full-length saint flanked by scenes of his or her life and soon developed to include several individual compartments to form a polyptych which frames could become increasingly elaborate. They eventually transformed the altarpiece into an architectonic structure resembling in detail and spatial principles the façades of contemporary full-scale Gothic architecture. In Italy such altarpieces were usually made of wood and painted, while in northern Europe they were commonly executed in stone. A new type of altarpiece soon appeared in 15th-century Italy, known as pala,, and was closer to a framed picture. In the interest of clarity and unity, numerous medieval screens separating the choir and high altar from the nave were removed.
The religious reforms of the 16th century brought new attention and some important changes to the form and function of the altarpiece. Under Protestant auspices, the altarpiece iconography was restricted to subjects well-suited to the sacrament celebrated at the altar, such as the Last Supper while the dynamic qualities that characterize Baroque art brought important changes to altarpiece design. Important altarpieces consisting of a single painting or relief continued to be made, but increasingly architecture was used as the theatrical setting for the three-dimensional display of the altarpiece's subject in sculpture.
Altarpieces adorned both high altars and side altars. High altars often carried large altarpieces with elaborate programmes while side altars served a more private piety and their altarpieces were often endowed by private individuals.

To judge by the dimensions and compositional formula, the painting was probably originally an altarpiece. It relates the life of St Denis, apostle of Paris, in four scenes articulated around the central Crucifixion of Christ. The life of St Denis can be found in a number of sources among which the best known is perhaps Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend. The painting presents a very specific facial typology which can be found in other French altarpiece from the beginning of the 16th century. Although the painted surface is abraded and damaged, one can see that the artist employed little gold and used dominant hues of blue and red, which suggests the commissioner paid a quite elevated price. The particular design of the moon and sun recalls manuscript illuminations which may have served here as a model.

853-1895