Sculpture of a bishop saint, limewood with traces of paint, German (Swabian, probably Ulm), ca. 1470-80

The standing saint is dressed in the vestments of a bishop, and slightly inclines his mitred head to the left. He is wearing a cope, which is clasped at his chest by a rectangular-shaped morse, over a dalmatic and an alb. He wears gloves, each one studded with a pyramid-shaped jewel, and holds a crozier in his raised left hand, as well as a book bag in his right.

The figure is carved from one piece of wood, and the back has been slightly hollowed out. The right hand and book bag are carved from separate pieces of wood, as is the staff in the left hand. The base of the figure is damaged, and there are three cracks in the mitre. Some crockets, the left part of the stylized acanthus leaves of the volute, and the lower part of the staff are missing.

Some of the polychromy of the figure is lost. Traces of a grey overpaint are visible on the cope, the dalmatic, the staff and the book bag, the latter also showing traces of gilding on the book cover. The mitre, the lappets and the base are overpainted in green, while the pupils have been indicated by black paint.

Bought from J. Rosenbaum, Frankfurt am Main, for £112 3s. 10d in 1908.

This figure was acquired by the museum as "Franconian, late 15th or early 16th century", but was subsequently thought to be of Tyrolese origin. In 1972, Alfred Schädler verbally suggested an origin in Ulm in about 1470. In 1967 he had already pointed out that a bishop saint in the collection of Heinz Kisters in Kreuzlingen was analogous to this figure. In 1974, Michael Baxandall convincingly suggested that "the head type and the drapery patterns derive from the sculpture of Hans Multscher of Ulm", and that "the figure is representative of a very large class of sculptures produced in and around Ulm by craftsmen under his influence". Although the formula of the drapery and the facila expression of the saint in Kreuzlingen shows the closest parallels to the present figure, this does not necessarily mean they come from the same altarpiece. The presence of two male saints with identical attributes is unlikely, but they were certainly produced by the same sculpture.

This sculpture probably once was part of a larger group in the centre of a carved altarpiece.

Swabian; formerly ascribed to be made in Tyrol (Austria)

This is a flanking figure from a group, probably in a small retable altar. Its pose demands a principal figure to its right, to which it inclines its head.
The figure is carved from one piece of wood, and the back has been slightly hollowed out.

111-1908