id: 122337 accession number: 1942.633.2 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.633.2 updated: 2023-03-07 15:13:54.404000 Saint Barbara, c. 1520. Master of the Holy Blood (Netherlandish). Tempera on wood panel; framed: 91 x 34.5 x 5.5 cm (35 13/16 x 13 9/16 x 2 3/16 in.); unframed: 86.3 x 29.2 cm (34 x 11 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.633.2 title: Saint Barbara title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1520 creation date earliest: 1515 creation date latest: 1525 current location: 112 Northern Renaissance creditline: Bequest of John L. Severance copyright: --- culture: Netherlands, Bruges, 16th century technique: tempera on wood panel department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Renaissance type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Master of the Holy Blood (Netherlandish) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 91 x 34.5 x 5.5 cm (35 13/16 x 13 9/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 86.3 x 29.2 cm (34 x 11 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection opening date: 1942-11-12T04:00:00 Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and Deceased Masters of the British School including a Collection of Watercolors and Chalk Drawings, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London, England (January 7-March 16, 1907). * Primitifs Flamands Anonymes, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, (June 14- Sept. 21, 1969). * The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland, OH (June 26-October 12, 1936). --- PROVENANCE Claude Ashley Charles Ponsonby (1859-1935), London, England date: footnotes: citations: (Sale: Christie's, London, March 28,1908 to Mori) date: March 28,1908 footnotes: citations: James Hamet Dunn (1874-1956), St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada date: footnotes: citations: [Bacri Brothers, Paris, France] date: footnotes: citations: John L. Severance (1863-1936), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1936-1942 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1942- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Saint Barbara holds both a book and a ring symbolizing her scholarly pursuits and union with God. According to legend, the leather thongs with which she was beaten were transformed into peacock plumes. This painting and one other in the collection (1942.633.1) were originally the wings of an altarpiece flanking a central panel, now lost, that may have depicted the Holy Family. The identity of this artist is unknown, but he is named for a painting in the Chapel of the Holy Blood in Bruges.

Bruges flourished as an international commercial center through the 1400s and early 1500s. Among its residents were many foreign merchants and bankers who, along with the Burgundian court, patronized artists and attracted specialized craftsmen such as furriers, hatters, jewelers, and goldsmiths. Bruges’s artistic production in the 1400s included celebrated artists like Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, Hans Memling, and Gerard David who painted large altarpieces, small panels for private devotion, and portraits. Bruges also remained an important center for the production of illuminated manuscripts. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Philips, Claude, "Old Master at the Royal Academy: First Notice," The Daily Telegraph, Jan. 5, 1907. page number: url: Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School: Including a Collection of Water Colours and Chalk Drawings. [LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN]: [ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS], 1907. page number: nos. 12, 15 url: Friedländer, Max Julius. Die altniederländische Malerei: Joos Van Cleve, Jan Provost, Joachim Patennier. Die Altniederländische Malerei. Berlin: Cassirer, 1931. page number: p. 153, no. 196 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: [Cleveland Museum of Art], 1936. page number: nos. 202 and 203 url: Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. page number: Reproduced: p. [13], Plate III, cat. no. 9; Mention: p. 22, cat. no. 9 url: https://archive.org/details/SeveranceBequest/page/n26 Art Digest, vol. 17, December 1, 1942. page number: p. 8 url: Francis, Henry S. “Department of Paintings.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 29, no. 9 (1942). page number: url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141016 Comstock, Helen, "The John L. Severance Collection at Cleveland," Connoisseur, vol. III, March 1943). page number: p. 61 url: Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. 1955. page number: II, 233, nos. 9 and 10 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 436 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n80 Janssens de Bisthoven, Aquilin, Dirk de Vos, and M. Baes-Dondeyne. Primitifs flamands anonymes maîtres aux noms d'empruntdes Pays-Bas Meridionaux du 15e et du debut du 16e siècle. Bruges: Ville, 1969. page number: p. 84-5, 229-230, no. 36, repr. p. 83 url: Friedländer, Max J., and H. Pauwels. Early Netherlandish Painting. Vol. 9, Part 2, Vol. 9, Part 2. Leyden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1973. page number: 118 and fig. 196 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 3. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Reproduced: cat. 9B, p. 22 - 24 url: Real, William A. “Exploring New Applications for Infrared Reflectography.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 8 (1985). page number: cover, p. 390 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159923 “Front Matter.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 8 (1985). page number: Cover url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159922 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.633.2/1942.633.2_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.633.2/1942.633.2_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.633.2/1942.633.2_full.tif