North Eastern French, circa 1510

Christie's, London, April 21, 1982, lot 148;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Saint Barbara is an early Christian martyr and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the fourteen saints venerated together by Catholics as their intercession is believed to be especially effective against various diseases. This grouping is thought to have originated in the fourteenth century. According to her tradition, Barbara was locked in a tower by her father as punishment for her rejection of marriage in order to consecrate herself for Christ. The present lot subscribes to this traditional association between Barbara and the tower where she was held captive, portraying the saint holding her tower in her proper left hand.

Her drapery is consistent with several contemporaneous sculptures from the same region discussed by Leroy in op. cit., particularly the Saint with a Book from the church of Sainte-Savine (Leroy, op. cit., p. 230).

Perhaps most distinctive in the present Saint Barbara is her elaborately carved hairstyle. The detailed looping of several plaits around either side of her head can be compared with another Saint Barbara from the church of the Nativité et de l’Assomption de la Sainte-Vierge in Villeloup (Leroy, op. cit., p. 214) which also depicts the saint with intricately wound braids. However, the Villeloup Saint Barbara has free-flowing curls which cascade across her shoulders, unlike the two braids which fall across the present Saint’s shoulder and back.

RELATED LITERATURE:

P. E. Leroy, Sculptures en Champagne au XVIe siècle, Dijon, 2009, pp. 214-230; J. Boccador, Statuaire médiévale en France de 1400 à 1530, Zoug, 1974