A LARGE RARE EARLY 16TH CENTURY FRENCH CARVED LIMESTONE...

A LARGE RARE EARLY 16TH CENTURY FRENCH CARVED LIMESTONE GROUP, St. Martin on horseback sharing a cloak with a beggar.(h 79cm x d 33cm x w 80cm)N.B. C316 - 397, once the most popular saint in France (500 villages and 4,000 parishes bear his name) Martin's life is recounted by Gregory of Tours & Sulpicius Severus. Born in Pannonia, he joined the Roman army and served in Gaul. At Amiens, in 337, he met a beggar near the city gate and divided his cloak into two, explaining that an army-issue cloak was not his to give away. The next night Christ appeared to Martin in a dream, wearing the half-cloak. He then resolved to become a Christian, though his discharge from the emperor's service was not granted for some years. In 379, he became Bishop of Tours where he is buried and his cloak (chape) was conserved (the word chapelle is derived from it). The 11 November, his feast day, denotes the onset of winter. His other attribute is a bear, since (as told in the Legenda Aura) he once forced a bear, which had eaten his ass, to convey his luggage to Rome.Provenance: private collection London, Kate Thurlow & Robin Thompson (21/10/98), Ex coll. Richard Chester Master (Cirencester)