Panel Painting
St. Erasmus
The Martyrdom of St Erasmus
Object number
LDSAL318
Artist/Designer/Maker
Unknown artist - Artist
Production date
1474
Production place
Canterbury
Material
Oak
Oil paint
Oil paint
Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
Height: 515mm
Width: 710mm
Depth: 16mm
Width: 710mm
Depth: 16mm
Inscriptions
Inscription content
P[er] fr[atr]em Joh[anne]m holynburne A[nno] d[omi]ni 1474
Inscription date
1474
References
Reference (free text)
A copy of the report can be found in the Collections Manager's office, third floor, room 3 in the filing cabinet ('Paintings - Dendro Surveys')
Oil on oak panel painting depicting the martyrdom of St Erasmus, third-century bishop of Formiae in Campania, south-west Italy. The scene is painted on two component panels placed horizontally and connected widthways at the back by a wooden insert with two ‘butterfly’ mortises. The panel is inscribed with a date of 1474.
This artwork by an unknown Netherlandish painter is composed of two boards, cut from two separate oak trees, felled after AD 1462, probably in the eastern Baltic region of Europe. The panels were probably prepared for use between 1462 and 1478 and painted soon after preparation. This is consistent with the date of 1474 given in the inscription.
The panel shows the martyrdom of St Erasmus, third-century bishop of Formiae in Campania, south-west Italy. There is no historical evidence that Erasmus met his end in the gruesome manner depicted here. According to legend, which conflated him with the eponymous bishop of Antioch, Erasmus was persecuted and suffered a Christian martyr’s death under the Emperor Diocletian (AD 284-305). He was venerated as a saint in Italy by the late sixth century, as attested by Pope Gregory the Great (d 603), and had become the object of a formal cult in Italy by the seventh century, for a monastery dedicated in his name had been established in Rome by then.
Disembowelment is not included among the torments depicted in these early wall paintings, for that incident seems to have been a late addition to his legend. Erasmus was alleged to have preached undeterred throughout a raging storm and in due course, in the guise of St Elmo, was claimed as the protector of those who brave the seas. Hence, apparently, the presence of an item of winding gear, usually rendered as a nautical capstan or windlass, in devotional images. Erasmus was also adopted as the patron of clothmakers and in some representations the object depicted with him looks more like a spindle. As the saint’s legend was progressively elaborated, this attribute came to be shown as the instrument of his torture and death, as in the Society’s painting.
The panel shows the martyrdom of St Erasmus, third-century bishop of Formiae in Campania, south-west Italy. There is no historical evidence that Erasmus met his end in the gruesome manner depicted here. According to legend, which conflated him with the eponymous bishop of Antioch, Erasmus was persecuted and suffered a Christian martyr’s death under the Emperor Diocletian (AD 284-305). He was venerated as a saint in Italy by the late sixth century, as attested by Pope Gregory the Great (d 603), and had become the object of a formal cult in Italy by the seventh century, for a monastery dedicated in his name had been established in Rome by then.
Disembowelment is not included among the torments depicted in these early wall paintings, for that incident seems to have been a late addition to his legend. Erasmus was alleged to have preached undeterred throughout a raging storm and in due course, in the guise of St Elmo, was claimed as the protector of those who brave the seas. Hence, apparently, the presence of an item of winding gear, usually rendered as a nautical capstan or windlass, in devotional images. Erasmus was also adopted as the patron of clothmakers and in some representations the object depicted with him looks more like a spindle. As the saint’s legend was progressively elaborated, this attribute came to be shown as the instrument of his torture and death, as in the Society’s painting.