Tomb Figure of a Knight
sculptor
Unknown
Dateabout 1498-1500
Place MadeSalamanca, Castilla y León, Spain, Europe
MediumAlabaster
Dimensions43.2 x 63.5 x 194.3 cm (17 x 25 x 76 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsFunerary Containers
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS6e14
eMuseum ID718962
EmbARK ObjectID11321
TMS Source ID553
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryNoble tombs in Europe often contain figures that portray the deceased. Here, alabaster has been intricately carved to show the textile pattern on the pillow and the chain mail of the armor—all indicators that the deceased was an aristocratic knight.
After the opening of her museum, Isabella Gardner took up a new interest in Spanish art, partly because Italian Renaissance paintings had become too expensive. In 1906, she visited Madrid, where she bought this sculpture. In 1914, she rebuilt part of the museum as the Spanish Cloister (for Sargent’s El Jaleo) and the Spanish Chapel. Isabella Gardner left instructions that her body should lie in state just outside this chapel—in death she would enact the same pose as the stone knight.
After the opening of her museum, Isabella Gardner took up a new interest in Spanish art, partly because Italian Renaissance paintings had become too expensive. In 1906, she visited Madrid, where she bought this sculpture. In 1914, she rebuilt part of the museum as the Spanish Cloister (for Sargent’s El Jaleo) and the Spanish Chapel. Isabella Gardner left instructions that her body should lie in state just outside this chapel—in death she would enact the same pose as the stone knight.
BibliographyNotesMorris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 216.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 48. (as Spanish, latter half of the 15th century)
Ronald Hilton. Handbook of Hispanic Source Materials and Research Organizations in the United States (Stanford, California, 1956), p. 194. (as Spanish, 2nd half of the 15th century)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), p. 146, no. 179. (as Spanish, about 1500)
Judith Sobré and Lynette M. F. Bosch. The Artistic Splendor of the Spanish Kingdoms: The Art of Fifteenth-Century Spain. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1996), pp. 49-50, cat. 11, fig. 11-1. (as by an anonymous Castillian master, active in Salamanca (?), about 1498-1500)
"Un caballero charro en Boston." La Gaceta de Salamanca (Salamanca, 3 Jan. 2013).
Richard L. Kagan. The Spanish Craze: America's Fascination with the Hispanic World, 1779-1939 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019), p. 264.
Nathaniel Silver, "Isabella and the Hispanic Society," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 13 October 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabella-and-hispanic-society
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 48. (as Spanish, latter half of the 15th century)
Ronald Hilton. Handbook of Hispanic Source Materials and Research Organizations in the United States (Stanford, California, 1956), p. 194. (as Spanish, 2nd half of the 15th century)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), p. 146, no. 179. (as Spanish, about 1500)
Judith Sobré and Lynette M. F. Bosch. The Artistic Splendor of the Spanish Kingdoms: The Art of Fifteenth-Century Spain. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1996), pp. 49-50, cat. 11, fig. 11-1. (as by an anonymous Castillian master, active in Salamanca (?), about 1498-1500)
"Un caballero charro en Boston." La Gaceta de Salamanca (Salamanca, 3 Jan. 2013).
Richard L. Kagan. The Spanish Craze: America's Fascination with the Hispanic World, 1779-1939 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019), p. 264.
Nathaniel Silver, "Isabella and the Hispanic Society," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 13 October 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabella-and-hispanic-society
ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner (as an effigy for the tomb of Francisco Maldonado, the Communard of Castile) from the dealer Émile Parès, Madrid (with a processional cross, museum no. M27e12) for a total of 10,000 pesetas in July 1906.
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