SAINT HUBERT OR SAINT EUSTACE. GOLDEN AND POLYCHROMED WOOD. SPANISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY.

Possibly Saint Hubert or Saint Eustace. Carved, polychromed, and gilded wood. Spanish school, 16th century. Polychrome and gilded wood carving, simply roughed out on the back, showing a richly dressed young horseman, wearing a flat hat, and with a falcon on his right arm, his hand covered with a glove. Iconographically, it could be a secular sculpture, perhaps of a nobleman hunting, given that it lacks a halo and there are no other identifying features. However, it could also be a saint. In that case, it might be Saint Eustace of Rome, a Roman general martyred in the Italian capital during the persecutions of Emperor Hadrian in 118 AD. He converted when, while out hunting, he saw a stag with a crucifix between its antlers, illuminated by a bright light, and heard a voice warning him. This vision also appears in the lives of Saint Felix of Valois (canonized in 1666), who had it while walking, and Saint Hubert of Liège (a Merovingian nobleman who took up hunting after his wife died, and had the aforementioned vision while hunting on Good Friday, with a voice that told him, "Hubert, if you do not return to the Lord and lead a holy life, you will go to hell," and instructed him to seek out Lambert, Bishop of Maastricht. Hubert converted, renounced his office, and gave his wealth to the poor). Saint Hubert died in Tervuren, Brabant, and his remains ended up in Andain Abbey, in the present-day town of Saint-Hubert, but were lost in the 16th century (until then, the abbey was a very important center of pilgrimage). The importance of this saint was increased by several Military Orders that took his name in the 15th century; moreover, Philip IV of Spain considered him a patron. Normally, these saints (Saint Eustace and Saint Hubert) appear accompanied by a stag with the cross or a Crucifix between its antlers, as this is the most significant moment in their lives. However, when more space was available or when their stories spanned several periods, it was not uncommon to depict them with a horse: the portal of the Chapel of Saint Hubert in Amboise (a chapel built between 1491 and 1496) shows the saint beside a horse and kneeling before the stag; two works are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: a French relief from the early 16th century with the saint on horseback (inventory 25.120.284) and a half-bead from the early 16th century in the Netherlands, also showing the saint mounted. Representations of Saint Eustace are less numerous, in principle. Stylistically, the work does not show much Hispano-Flemish influence (although the saint was very popular in Northern Europe). Furthermore, compare the attire: the hat is similar to the one worn by the portrait of John Calvin in the engraving attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger (ca. 1497-1543).

· Size: 64x20x77 cms