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Virgin and Child with Saints Christopher, Augustine, Stephen, John the Baptist, Nicholas, and Sebastian
Italo-Byzantine
Late Byzantine
early 15th century
Medium/Technique
Tempera on panel
Dimensions
Center panel: 229 x 72 cm (90 3/16 x 28 3/8 in.)
Each of six side panels: 175 x 34 cm (68 7/8 x 13 3/8 in.)
Each of six side panels: 175 x 34 cm (68 7/8 x 13 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Eliot Hubbard, Jr.
Accession Number37.410.1-7
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionA monumental 7 panel (polyptych) altarpiece that reflects both Italian (Venetian?) and Byzantine (Cretan?) artistic traditions. Known to be from the Church and Abbey of St Stefano near Monopoli, a town in Apulia on the heel of Italy’s boot.
The scale is 3 meters in width, and 2.4 meters in height. The format is typical of the Venetian tradition; the central panel is taller and wider, depicting the Virgin and Child as was common, and is flanked by full-length saints on either side. Saints Christopher, Augustine, and Stephen are on the left, and Saints John the Baptist, Nicholas and Sebastian are on the right. Many workshops for icons were working on Crete and exporting to the east and west. Many of these workshops produced works in the style demanded by clients either in a Byzantine or early Italian manner. We see both combined in the MFA altarpiece, the only known example extant of a Cretan style used in an Italian altarpiece format. Note the Gothic style used to portray Saints Augustine and Stephen, and the Cretan style used to represent Virgin and Child, John the Baptist, and St. Nicholas. However, despite stylistic differences the techniques used to paint this altarpiece indicate it was produced in a single workshop.
The scale is 3 meters in width, and 2.4 meters in height. The format is typical of the Venetian tradition; the central panel is taller and wider, depicting the Virgin and Child as was common, and is flanked by full-length saints on either side. Saints Christopher, Augustine, and Stephen are on the left, and Saints John the Baptist, Nicholas and Sebastian are on the right. Many workshops for icons were working on Crete and exporting to the east and west. Many of these workshops produced works in the style demanded by clients either in a Byzantine or early Italian manner. We see both combined in the MFA altarpiece, the only known example extant of a Cretan style used in an Italian altarpiece format. Note the Gothic style used to portray Saints Augustine and Stephen, and the Cretan style used to represent Virgin and Child, John the Baptist, and St. Nicholas. However, despite stylistic differences the techniques used to paint this altarpiece indicate it was produced in a single workshop.
Provenance15th century, the high altar of Santo Stefano, Monopoli, Italy; between 1806 and 1813, the church was privatized during the Napoleonic suppressions; October 2, 1813, the property at S. Stefano, including the abbey church and castle, was sold by Joachim Murat (b. 1767 – d. 1815) to Don Rocco Morelli; by 1854, the property was owned by the Sgobba family [see note 1]; before 1871, the altarpiece was removed from the church [see note 2] and, by 1892, it passed by descent, probably through Rosa Sgobba dell'Erba, to her son, Marchese Luigi dell'Erba (b. 1853 - d. 1937), Palazzo Filomarino della Rocca, Naples [see note 3]. Probably about 1900/1910, acquired by Eliot Hubbard (b. 1856 – d. 1932) and his wife, Helen Wetherell Faulkner Hubbard (b. 1860 –d. 1937) [see note 4]; by descent to their son, Dr. Eliot Hubbard, Jr. (b. 1893 - d. 1977), Cambridge, MA; 1937, gift of Dr. Eliot Hubbard, Jr. to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 5, 1937)
NOTES:
[1] For a history of S. Stefano, see Graziano Bellifemine, Il Castello di S. Stefano presso Monopoli: Storia ed Arte (Fasano, 1990), particularly pp. 91-92.
[2] The altarpiece was reproduced in Demetrio Salazaro’s publication Studi sui Monumenti della Italia Meridionale dal IVo al XIIIo secolo, part 1 (Naples, 1871), pl. xxiv and discussed in part 2 (Naples, 1878), pp. 23-24, as having “at one time adorned the high altar” of the church.
[3] Domenico Morea, "Chartularium del monastero di S. Benedetto di Conservano," vol. 1 (1892), pp. 294-295, recorded the altarpiece at the Palazzo Della Rocca, Naples in the possession of Luigi dell'Erba, the nephew of Francesco and Leonardo Sgobba, at one time the owners of S. Stefano.
[4] A letter from Dr. Eliot Hubbard, Jr., to W. G. Constable of the MFA (January 1, 1940) states that, while he did not know exactly when his parents acquired the altarpiece, they were collecting art when he was a child.
Thanks are extended to Prof. Lucio Mercurio Navarra dell'Erba, great-grandson of Marchese Luigi dell'Erba, for his assistance in researching the Sgobba and dell'Erba families.
NOTES:
[1] For a history of S. Stefano, see Graziano Bellifemine, Il Castello di S. Stefano presso Monopoli: Storia ed Arte (Fasano, 1990), particularly pp. 91-92.
[2] The altarpiece was reproduced in Demetrio Salazaro’s publication Studi sui Monumenti della Italia Meridionale dal IVo al XIIIo secolo, part 1 (Naples, 1871), pl. xxiv and discussed in part 2 (Naples, 1878), pp. 23-24, as having “at one time adorned the high altar” of the church.
[3] Domenico Morea, "Chartularium del monastero di S. Benedetto di Conservano," vol. 1 (1892), pp. 294-295, recorded the altarpiece at the Palazzo Della Rocca, Naples in the possession of Luigi dell'Erba, the nephew of Francesco and Leonardo Sgobba, at one time the owners of S. Stefano.
[4] A letter from Dr. Eliot Hubbard, Jr., to W. G. Constable of the MFA (January 1, 1940) states that, while he did not know exactly when his parents acquired the altarpiece, they were collecting art when he was a child.
Thanks are extended to Prof. Lucio Mercurio Navarra dell'Erba, great-grandson of Marchese Luigi dell'Erba, for his assistance in researching the Sgobba and dell'Erba families.