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| Title | A Martyr (Saint Sebastian?) | |
| Collection | New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester | |
| Artist | Bembo, Bonifacio (Italian painter, active 1447-1478, died before 1482) Previously attributed to Francesco di Gentile da Fabriano (Italian painter, 15th c.) Previously attributed to Italian (Cremonese) School |
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| Date Earliest | about 1440 | |
| Date Latest | about 1470 | |
| Description | This is one of two small panel paintings attributed to Bonifacio Bembo in the New Walk Museum. This panel features an unidentified saint who wears spurs and a fur-trimmed tunic of a kind that was fashionable in the fifteenth century. In his right hand he holds a flowering palm which alludes to his martyr status; the sword in his left hand indicates that the figure may represent Saint Sebastian. This panel, like its companion, has an arched top; it is unclear if the panels were painted as a pair or as part of a larger work. |
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| Current Accession Number | L.F26.1950.0.0 | |
| Former Accession Number | 26 A 1950 | |
| Subject | figure; landscape; religion ( a martyr) | |
| Measurements | 72.4 x 23.5 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on panel | |
| Acquisition Details | Purchased at Henry Harris sale, though Sotheby's, 1950, lot 189, as one of Two Saints by School of Cremona, £400 with pendant. | |
| Publications | Van Marle, R., Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague, 1934, vol. 15, p. 75, cat. no. 4, as by Francesco di Gentile; Leicester Museums and Art Gallery: Collection of Paintings, Leicester, 1958, no. 28, ill. 1a; Wright, C., Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings Executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976, p. 14. | |
| Notes | Related work: L.F25.1950.0.0. The paintings formerly belonged to Henry Harris, a collector whose particular interest focussed on early Renaissance works. A note in the 1950 Sotheby's catalogue compares these panels on stylistic grounds to a triptych by Cristoforo Moretti which was published by Longhi in 1928. |
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| Rights Owner | Leicester City Museums Service | |
| Author | Dr Angela Smith | |