EXCEPTIONAL LARGE RETABLE GROUP in carved oak with minute traces of polychromy representing the Translation of the body of Saint James in Galicia. In the foreground, the body of the beheaded Saint James is carried by two of his disciples; on the left...

EXCEPTIONAL LARGE RETABLE GROUP in carved oak with minute traces of polychromy representing the Translation of the body of Saint James in Galicia. In the foreground, the body of the beheaded Saint James is carried by two of his disciples; on the left, two other disciples, the youngest of whom is holding the head of the Holy Apostle; in the upper part, the arrest of a young man surrounded by three other figures; in the background, boulders and a small mill.
Spanish Netherlands, Middle Meuse, Limburg, Ruremonde, attributed to the master of Esloo (Jan van Oel?), ca. 1510/20
Height: 73,5 cm - Width: 45 cm - Depth: 21,5 cm
Origin: Former private collection, Ghent, bought about 30 years ago on the local art market.
It seems to be a very little represented scene in the artistic production and even unseen in sculpture. It is taken from the apocryphal legend of Saint James the Greater, which explains and legitimizes the presence of the Apostle's bones in Spain. This miraculous translation of the relics from Jaffa in Palestine to Compostela in Galicia would have been carried out in a marble boat, a floating sarcophagus, under the guidance of an angel. The scene depicted seems to be the moment when the companions of James place his tortured body in the "boat of stone, without sail or rudder". Among these figures, one could recognize the magician Hermogenes and his disciple Philet, whom the Apostle had succeeded in converting to the true Faith. The latter, the youngest, carries the head of the saint while his master, the eldest, supports his body with his armpits. In the small scene in the upper part of the scene, we recognize Philetius who had previously been chained up under the effect of the evil spells of Hermogenes, who had been enraged by his conversion.
As is often the case in altarpieces, the sculptor could represent twice the same characters at different sizes, which made it possible to relate several episodes of a legend to a single group.
The author of this Translation can only be an accomplished artist who knows how to combine a great mastery of execution with a real science of composition, each of the actors being perfectly placed in order to give a very legible reading of the action. These qualities, combined with the remarkable craftsmanship of the faces, all individualized, and the richness of the costumes, picturesque in their clothing details, make one think of the manner of the Master of Esloo. It was the art historian J.J.M. Timmers who created this name in 1940 to distinguish the author of Saint
Anne the Trinity, which is kept in the Church of Saint Augustine in Esloo, situated in Dutch Limburg between Maastricht and Sittard. Since then, a number of sculptures have been grouped together under this name which bear witness to the important activity of this artist or his workshop illustrating the late Gothic period in this region. Recently, the idea has been mooted of putting a name to this generic name of Maître d'Esloo, that of Johan van Oel, the name of a sculptor who appeared in the archives of Ruremonde, although it has never been possible to establish with certainty a relationship between him and a specific work.
The Master of Esloo is mainly known for individual sculptures of saints or sometimes a meeting of two or three characters. It does not seem that he was assigned groups of altarpieces. However, very telling comparisons can be made between this Translation of the Body of Saint James and several of his works. Figures of young men with curly hair, regular features, hats with raised brim and slashed necks often come back to the image of Philetius wearing the head of the Apostle: the Saint Roch of the Metropolitan Museum of New York (inv. 16.32.186, fig.a), that of the Museum of Fine Arts of Tours (inv.1973-3-9, fig.b) give good examples. Similarly, the Master of Elsloo likes to represent characters, often bearded, with marked features, wearing the most improbable hairstyles and a variety of costumes, such as the two on the left in the group that recall the Emperor Augustus in the church of St. Joris in Siersdorf in Germany (fig.c), St. Christopher of the Church of St. Lambert in Neeroeteren (fig. d) or the Executioner of the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille (inv. A 126, fig. e).
Because of its imposing dimensions, this group of the Translation must have belonged to a very large altarpiece, similar to those decorating the chapels of some Spanish churches. One thinks of the altarpiece of the Passion in Medina del Campo (Castile), one group of which represents Santiago the Matamore at the battle of Clavijo (fig. f). 82 cm high, it is said to have been made around 1515, in walnut wood, by a Brabant sculptor. The group presented here can thus be considered as a vivid testimony of the close relations that existed at that time in the Netherlands between the close sponsors of the Spanish power and the Flemish artists. The rarity of the subject represented, taken from Iberian legend, can only be understood as part of a general incitement to make the pilgrimage to Compostela. It should be remembered that the pilgrimage to Galicia was initiated by the Burgundian Order of Cluny, whose abbots had adopted the shell, the emblem of the saint, on their coat of arms; foreign pilgrims going to Spain were thus obliged to cross France and stop at the accommodation and reception centres belonging to the Confraternities of Pilgrims of Santiago...
Works consulted: L. Réau, Iconographie de l'Art chrétien, Paris, 1988, t. II; Exposition Saint-Trond 1990, Laat-gotische beeldsnijkunst uit Limburg en
Grensland, Provincial Museum of Religious Art, cat.; Exhibitions Madrid - Gent - Santa Cruz de la Palma 2005, El Fruto de la Fe - El Legado artísco de Flandes en la Isla de la Palma, Carlos de Amberes Foundation - Saint Peter's Abbey - Former Convent of San Francisco, cat.
Web link: https://www.saint-jacques.info/visite.htm Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.