Skip to main content

Hermit Saint, probably St Alleaume: M.10-2009

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Hermit Saint, probably St Alleaume

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Carved limestone lifesize figure of a saint, with traces of painting, standing on an integrally-carved socle.

Notes

History note: Collection of John Rewald; sold Christie's, 13 December 1994, lot 95; bought James Fenton

Legal notes

Given by James Fenton

Measurements and weight

Height: 169.5 cm
Height: 66 ¾ in

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2009-12-01) by Fenton, James

Dating

15th Century, Late-16th Century, Early#
Circa 1480 CE - 1520 CE

Note

St Alleaume was a hermit monk who is said to have helped clear a forest in the Auvergne where a Benedictine Abbey known as La Chaise-Dieu (from Casa Dei, House of God) was founded in 1043 - hence his attributes of a branch of a tree (partly missing here) and an axe. Alleaume was elected abbot in 1078 but retired after a year. Later he went to Spain and founded the monastery of St John at Burgos. He died in 1097.

The style of the carving of the facial features, and the drapery suggests that the figure was made in Languedoc or Aquitaine.

School or Style

Late Medieval

People, subjects and objects depicted

Project

  • Sculpture UK

Components of the work

Parts composed of paint ( traces of)

Materials used in production

Limestone

Techniques used in production

Carving

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.10-2009
Primary reference Number: 169740
Entry form: 1035
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_10_2009
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 10 February 2020 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Hermit Saint, probably St Alleaume" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/169740 Accessed: 2024-11-05 22:40:40

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/169740 |title=Hermit Saint, probably St Alleaume |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 22:40:40|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-169740

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...