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A nude man stands in a sandstone-colored, hip-high basin with hands together in prayer, as ten people stand around the basin and more look on from a distance in this vertical painting. The man, Clovis, stands with his body facing us but his head tilts slightly to his left, our right. He wears a jeweled crown over his chin-length brown hair, and looks off to our right with dark eyes under dark brows. The basin sits on an ornately carved gray stone plinth. Next to the basin to our right, a man wears a cardinal-red tunic over a long-sleeved, white garment and tips a golden bowl of liquid to pour it onto Clovis’s head. His left hand, closest to us, is held up with his palm facing Clovis. He wears a jeweled gold and silver, pointed hat that splits up the sides to expose red lining, and a richly brocaded red and gold cloak with royal-blue lining. The bronze-colored medallion hanging at his chest has an image of a man’s head and torso. The cloak seems to be embroidered with two men on the lapels, one holding a sword, the other a large key in one hand and a book in the other. Another man wearing a brocaded robe holds back the sleeve of the bishop’s raised hand, while four more men wearing robes stand in a tight cluster. An older man in this group, with graying hair, holds a curling, gold staff. Five men look onto the scene from a balcony above this group, along the right edge of the panel. A row of greenish-silver organ pipes lines the balcony behind them. Next to the basin to our left, a shorter or kneeling man with his hair shaved into a ring around his head wears a white gown and holds a large, thick book to his chest. The book is bound in light brown leather with metal clasps and fittings. Behind Clovis and to our left, a woman looks on with her hair pulled back under a gold-colored veil. Two men next to her right wear fur-trimmed cloaks of rich reds and dark green, and each touches Clovis’s arm. Beyond this group surrounding the basin, more people gather in a courtyard outside the church entrance to watch the ceremony. They wear cloaks and leggings in rose pink, emerald green, light blue, or tan. At the front of the crowd, one man holds a long-handled weapon with an axe blade and spear tip. Other stone buildings are visible around the courtyard, and a peacock perches on an archway over the crowd, in the distance.

Master of Saint Giles

The Baptism of Clovis, c. 1500

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 41-A

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 61.5 x 45.5 cm (24 3/16 x 17 15/16 in.)
overall (panel): 63.3 x 46.7 cm (24 15/16 x 18 3/8 in.)

framed: 82.07 × 66.36 × 9.21 cm (32 5/16 × 26 1/8 × 3 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.2.15

Artists / Makers

Master of Saint Giles (painter) Franco-Flemish, active c. 1500

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Chevalier Alexandre de Lestang-Parade, Aix-en-Provenance, by 1823.[1] Count Melchoir de Lestang-Parade, Aix-en-Provence; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-20 May 1882, nos. 105, 106, as anonymous fifteenth century). Baron Etienne Martin de Beurnonville [d. 1881], Paris; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21-22 May 1883, nos. 43, 44, as Burgundian School, fifteenth century). M. Watel, Paris, 1883.[2] (Paris art market, by 1937.)[3] (Wildenstein and Co., Paris and New York, 1938-1946;) purchased 1946 by Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.

[1] [Jean-Baptiste-François Porte], Aix ancien et moderne, ou Description des Édifices sacres et profanes, Établissements, Monumens[sic] antiques, du moyen âge et modernes, Bibliotèques, Cabinets, Promenades d'Aix, etc., etc.... (Aix-en-Provence, 1823), 147.

[2] According to Alfred de Champeaux, "Deux vues de la Cité de Paris au XVe siècle," La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité, no. 23 (1883), 187.

[3] Max J. Friedländer, "Le Maître de Saint-Gilles," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6e per. 17 (1937), 223.

[4] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2088.

Associated Names

Art market, Paris
Beurnonville, Etienne Martin de, Baron
Drouot, Hôtel
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Lestang-Parade, Alexandre de, Chevalier
Lestang-Parade, Melchoir de, Count
Watel, M.
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1951: Wildenstein Jubilee Loan Exhibition 1901-1951: Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1951, no. 11, repro.

2010: France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago, 2010-2011, no. 178 (Paris) and no. 33 (Chicago), repro.

2017: François ler et l'art des Pays-Bas, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2017-2018, no. 1, repro.

Technical Summary

Like 1952.2.14, the panel was thinned and cradled sometime before 1937, leaving no traces of the grisaille formerly on the back. There are two vertical joins approximately 15 and 30 cm in from the left edge and a split approximately 39 cm from the left edge. These correspond to the joins and split on the grisaille of Saint Denis, presumably destroyed. The paint surface is in good condition. There is some fill and inpainting along the split where it extends down through the head of the priest holding the bishop's robe. There are many scattered small losses in the paint and ground layer, with a larger loss in the lower right corner. Rather extensive abrasion has resulted in the loss or breaking up of some of the fine highlights and transparent glazes in areas such as the heads of the priests at the right and of the king, queen, and man to her left. Two small losses, to the left of the left eye and beside the right eyebrow of the queen, have probably not altered her expression unduly.[1] The somewhat disturbed appearance of the surface is due in part to extraordinarily extensive changes in every area of the painting, including a complete reworking of the setting and a repositioning of the heads of most of the foreground figures. These changes were made at all stages of the painting process, in the underdrawing and in the lower and upper paint layers.

[1] Eisler 1977, 242, suggested that her dour expression was due to restoration.

Bibliography

1823: [Porte, Jean-Baptiste-François]. Aix ancien et moderne, ou Description des Édifices sacrés et profanes, Établissemens, Monumens antiques, du moyen âge et modernes,... Aix-en-Provence, 1823: 147.

1841: Gaszynski, C. In Mémorial d'Aix (13 June, 1841): 2.

1883: Champeaux, Alfred de. "Deux vues de la Cité de Paris au XVe siècle." La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité no. 23 (1883): 186-187.

1905: Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la Renaissance (1280-1580). 6 vols. Paris, 1905-1923: 2(1907):744, no. 2, repro.

1907: "Meister des hl. Agidius." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 37(1950):6-7.

1912: Friedländer, Max J. "Der Meister des hl. Ägidius." Amtliche Berichte aus den königl. Kunstsammlungen 34 (1912/1913): 187-188.

1921: Conway, Martin. The Van Eycks and their Followers. London, 1921: 190.

1931: Lemoisne, Paul André. Die gotische Malerei Frankreichs vierzehntes und fünfzehntes Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1931: 113.

1932: Held, Julius S. "Zwei Ansichten von Paris beim Meister des heiligen Ägidius." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 53 (1932): 3-4, 10-15, fig. 2.

1934: Jong, Johannes Assuerus Bernardus Maria de. Architectuur bij de nederlandsche schilders vóór de hervorming. Amsterdam, 1934: 54.

1937: Friedländer, Max J. "Le Maître de Saint-Gilles." Gazettte des Beaux Arts 17 (1937): 223-231, figs. 6, 10.

1938: Dimier, Louis. "Les primitifs français." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 20 (1938): 234-235.

1938: Sterling, Charles. La peinture française: les primitifs. Paris, 1938: 135, fig. 170.

1939: National Gallery, London. Supplement to the 1929 Catalogue Including Accessions to the End of 1937. London, 1939: 27.

1939: Réau, Louis. La peinture française du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Paris, 1939: 14, fig. 10.

1942: Sterling, Charles. Les peintres du Moyen Âge: la peinture française. Paris, 1942: 51, 64, pl. 140.

1944: Luttervelt, R. van. "Chineesche zijden stoffen en tapijten in Europa in vroeger eeuwen." Maandblad voor beeldene Kunsten 20 (1944): 45-46, fig. 1.

1945: Davies, Martin. National Gallery Catalogues. Early Netherlandish School. London, 1945: 71-72 (2d ed. 1955: 82-83; 3d ed. 1968: 108-109).

1946: Davies, Martin. Paintings and Drawings on the Backs of National Gallery Pictures. London, 1946: xi.

1949: Hébert, Michèle. "Les monuments parisiens dans l'oeuvre du Maître de Saint Gilles." Fédération des sociétés historiques et archéolog. de Paris et de l'Ile-de-France. Mémoires 1 (1949): 213-214, 231-235, pl. 11.

1949: Ring, Grete. A Century of French Painting 1400-1500. London, 1949: 33, 230, no. 240a, fig. 40.

1951: Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News 50 (1951): 112-113, repro. 107.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 186-189, no. 83, repro.

1954: Tietze, Hans. Treasures of the Great National Galleries. New York, 1954: 123-124, pl. 197.

1955: Réau, Louis. Iconographie de l'art chrétien. 3 vols. Paris, 1955-1959: 3, part 3(1959):1146.

1956: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 36, color repro.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 332, repro.

1960: The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 4.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 66-67, 202, 218, fig. 60.

1962: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 64, color repro.

1963: Châtelet, Albert, and Jacques Thuillier. French Painting from Fouquet to Poussin. Geneva, 1963: 92-93.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 108, repro.

1965: Hinkle, William M. "The Iconography of the Four Panels by the Master of Saint Giles." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 28 (1965): 110, 113-124, 127, 129-130, 139-144, pls. 21g-h, 22b-c, 25A-B.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 87.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:92-93, color repro.

1966: Laclotte, Michel, Primitifs français. Paris, 1966: 45, pl. 36.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 76, repro.

1973: Montesquiou-Fezensac, Blaise de, and Danielle Gaborit-Chopin. Le Trésor de Saint-Denis. 3 vols. Paris, 1973/1977: 105, pl. 93a.

1973: National Gallery, London. Illustrated General Catalogue. London, 1973: 444.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue (National Gallery of Art). Washington, 1975: 224-225, repro.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 241-243, fig. 231, text fig. 53.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 140, no. 140, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 257, repro.

1986: Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 169-176, color repro. 168.

1998: Denny, Don. "Baptism." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 1:107.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 74-75, no. 54, color repro.

2005: Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 50, fig. 1, 71 (not in the exhibition).

2011: Mullally, Evelyn. Guide de Paris au Moyen Age. Paris, 2011: 110-111, color repro.