Possibly Saint Hubert or Saint Eustace. Carved, polychrome, and gilded wood. Spanish School, 16th century. A polychrome and gilded wood carving, simply rough-hewn on the back, depicting a richly dressed young horseman wearing a flat hat and holding a falcon on his right arm, his hand covered with a glove. Iconographically, it could be a civil sculpture of a nobleman hunting, given that he doesn't wear a halo and there are no other identifying elements. However, it could also be a saint. In this case, it could be Saint Eustace of Rome, a Roman general martyred in the Italian capital during the persecutions of Emperor Hadrian in 118 AD. He was converted when, while out hunting, he saw a deer 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 (sanctified in 1666), who had it while out for a walk, and Saint Hubert of Liège (a Merovingian nobleman who took up hunting after the death of his wife, 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 sent him to the Bishop of Maastricht, Lambert, where he converted, renouncing his office and giving his wealth to the poor). Saint Hubert died in Tervuren, Brabant, and his remains ended up in the Abbey of Andain, in the present-day town of Saint Hubert, and were lost in the 16th century (until then the abbey was a very important center of pilgrimage). The importance of this saint was increased thanks to some Military Orders that took his name in the 15th century; in addition, Philip IV of Spain had him as a protector. Normally, these saints (Saint Eustace and Saint Hubert) are shown accompanied by a stag with a cross or a crucified Christ between its antlers, as this is the highlight of their lives. However, when more space was available or a story could be told at various points in time, it was not uncommon for them to be shown with a horse: the portal of the Chapel of Saint Hubert in Amboise (built between 1491 and 1496), with the saint next to a horse and kneeling before the stag; two works preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: an early 16th-century French relief with the saint mounted on horseback (inventory 25.120.284) and an early 16th-century half-bead from the Netherlands, with the saint also mounted. Depictions of Saint Eustace are, to begin with, fewer. Stylistically, the work does not show much Hispano-Flemish influence (although the saint was very popular in northern Europe). Also, 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
ANTIQUES
SCULPTURE
Ref.: ZF0950
