--- title: Saint Wilgefortis Triptych subtitle: thumbnail: ../../thumbs/CAT8-thumb.jpg section: documents logo: bosch weight: 8 cat: 8 --- #### [Catalogue Raisonné](https://data01.universumdigitalis.com/bosch/data/PDF/CAT8.pdf) [Technical Study](https://data01.universumdigitalis.com/bosch/data/PDF/CAT8RR.pdf) # Saint Wilgefortis Triptych$\tiny{^{[\text{CAT8}]}}$
**Hieronymus Bosch** c. 1495-1505 Oil on oak panel, left wing 105.2 x 27.5 cm, central panel 105.2 x 62.7 cm, right wing 104.7 x 27.9 cm Signed central panel, lower left: _Jheronimus bosch_ Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia BRCP examination and documentation data: Venice, 14–25 November 2011; BRCP, _Technical Studies_, cat. 8, RR 21–26.
Hieronymus Bosch, Saint Wilgefortis Triptych, c. 1495–1505, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
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 Hieronymus Bosch, Saint Wilgefortis Triptych, c. 1495–1505, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
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 Hieronymus Bosch, Saint Wilgefortis Triptych, c. 1495–1505, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
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Hieronymus Bosch, Saint Wilgefortis Triptych, c. 1495–1505, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
## Condition The triptych panels have retained their original format, but their reverses were thinned and cradled. A possible remnant of a red bole suggests that the (now–lost) original, engaged frame was gilded. The panel surfaces are undulating and some old woodworm damage as well as several cracks were observed. Despite a history of raised paint issues, the layers are generally well adhered. The painting is severely abraded and there are many restored losses. Given, moreover, that red lakes have faded and light paints have increased in transparency, most red clothing has lost its original finish. The overpainted donors and other alterations have become more visible over time. Disturbing retouchings, the greyish surface layer and poor varnish result in an uneven appearance of the painting. Conservation issues were addressed in the 2013–15 full treatment of the painting. ## Provenance Before 1664–1838 Venice, Palazzo Ducale; 1838–1919 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; 1919–2011 Venice, Palazzo Ducale; since 2011 Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia. ## Literature BRCP, _Technical Studies_, cat. 8, RR 21–26; Fischer 2013, 179–84, 251–52; Koreny 2012, 28, 95; Limentani Virdis 2010, 232–42; Silver 2006, 208–11; Aikema 2001, 25–31; Klein 2001, 126; Koldeweij, Vandenbroeck and Vermet 2001, 171–72; Limentani Virdis 1992, 86–91; Marijnissen 1987, 15, 260–69; Campbell 1981, 467–73; Slatkes 1975, 335–45; Friedländer ENP V 1969, 86; Tolnay 1965, I, 274–77; II 368–69; Bax 1961; Von Baldass 1959, 42; Von Baldass 1943, 31–32, 35, 60, 68, 69–70, 71, 97, 242; Gessler 1938, 134–37; Gessler 1937; Friedländer 1934, 84, 98, 151; Friedländer 1921, 80, 192. ## Analysis The triptych showing Saint Wilgefortis has been in Venice for over 350 years. However, there are no unambiguous sources documenting the painting's presence in the city from the sixteenth century onwards. The Bosch Research and Conservation Project has shown that the triptych was conceived as an ensemble from the outset, and that any dispute as to the identity of the crucified female martyr can be ruled out. It has also become clear that the triptych is of excellent quality and deserves to be placed unequivocally in Bosch's core oeuvre.
## The triptych The restoration performed in 2013–15 has given back to the _Saint Wilgefortis Triptych_ its legibility and rich colour, along with some of its earlier lustre. The figure groups and the landscape have regained much of their original depth and plasticity. Greater clarity has also been achieved regarding the creation of the triptych, whose wings were overpainted at an early stage (most likely before it left the workshop) while respecting and utilizing the original composition. The profusion and intensity of the reds in the central panel are even more striking now than they were before restoration. Most of the red garments have a red base, followed by a modelling layer, mostly of lead white, and finally a red lake glaze. This bright red base is not found in most other paintings by Bosch. The painting thus appears to have been constructed very deliberately to use colour to seize the viewer's attention. Only when approached more closely and viewed more attentively does the work gradually reveal its details, depth and finesse. The earliest description of the triptych of a crucified female martyr is that of Marco Boschini in 1664: '… another painting in three parts, in which one sees the martyrdom of a female saint on the cross, with many figures, and one in particular that has fallen unconscious to the ground, supported by others; it was painted by _Girolamo Basi_ '.[1] At that time the triptych hung in a corridor in the Doge's Palace in Venice. It was mentioned again when a new edition of the guide was published in 1664, including several comments on the previous description: '… a painting in three parts with the martyrdom of a crowned male saint, not of a female saint, [and] not by Girolamo Bassi, but by _Girolamo Bolch_, as may be seen written in white German [Gothic] letters'.[2] The author of this quotation, Antonio Maria Zanetti, thus believed he was seeing a male saint. His nephew and namesake, Antonio Maria Zanetti il Giovane, returned to the subject of the triptych in the Doge's Palace in a later publication of 1771. The martyr's gender was less clear to him, causing him to write that this was 'a male or a female saint'.[3] He transcribed the signature as _Jeronimus Bosch_, leaving out the first _h_: Italians were anything but used to reading Gothic script. The younger Zanetti also noted that the two works by _Girolamo Bosch da Bolduch_ (that is, 'from Bois-le-Duc' – French for 's-Hertogenbosch) in the Doge's Palace comprised a total of six panels. Both triptychs – this one and the _Hermit Saints Triptych_ (cat. 2) – were probably displayed at the time in a way that concealed the reverses of their wings, as these are not mentioned in any of the sources, prompting the question of whether they might have been lost at an early stage. In 1740 the _Wilgefortis Triptych_ was in the Sala dei Tre Capi del Consiglio dei Dieci.[4] It was still recorded there in 1837, before being sent to Vienna a year later.[5] If the paintings – presumably grisailles – on the closed wings had not disappeared already, they were certainly removed between 1838 and 1919, when the backs of all the panels were cradled.[6] As we have seen, the three Venetian authors did not know the identity of the crucified figure and differed as to the saint's gender. The feminine physique was decisive for Boschini, while the elder Zanetti probably focused more on the facial hair, which must have been more clearly visible at the time. It was confirmed during the thorough restoration performed in 2013–15 that the martyr did indeed have a beard originally. This is an important observation, as it not only explains the hesitation expressed by the younger Zanetti, it also concludes a debate triggered in 1937 by the Flemish folklorist Jozef Gessler,[7] who was the first to suggest that the crucified young woman was the martyr Wilgefortis. This saint was venerated throughout northern Europe in the late Middle Ages, where she was also known by the name 'Uncumber' in a variety of forms and spellings. Gessler's view contradicted the received opinion that this was the relatively unknown Saint Julia, whose cult was chiefly located in the Brescia region of Italy. Hermann Dollmayr had confidently proposed this identification in 1898, when the triptych was still in Vienna, and his conclusion had been widely adopted by subsequent authorities.[8] It was even cited as one of the principal arguments in favour of a presumed visit to Italy by Bosch – a hypothesis that continues to crop up regularly, but which as yet remains unproven.[9]
8.1 Saint Wilgefortis or Uncumber (cat. 8B).
Bosch gave the crucified virgin a light beard, as did Hans Memling in the Wilgefortis figure on the closed left wing of his 1480 _Triptych of Adriaan Reins_ in St John's Hospital in Bruges.[10] The martyr remained an attractive young princess, despite the facial hair, but the miraculous beard spared her having to marry a non-Christian.[11] Her heathen father responded furiously and had her crucified in the manner of Jesus Christ, whom she refused to renounce. ![8.2 Hans Memling, Saint Wilgefortis. Detail of Triptych of Adriaan Reins. Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges (source: https://closertomemling.be/).](cat8/CR_8_2.jpg) Bosch turned this crucifixion scene into a complex figure study, with considerable drama. The T-shaped cross to which Wilgefortis is bound has been positioned at the centre of the painting, where it towers above two groups of men, one on either side. The pair of finely dressed individuals in the right-hand foreground seem to be responsible for her condemnation and execution. The figures behind them look on, while one man points an accusing finger at the victim. The group on this side of the cross recalls images of the baying crowd in Ecce Homo scenes. The figures on the left create a very different impression; these bystanders seem to have come to their senses and to have realized the gravity of the crucifixion.[12] Together, they are reminiscent of depictions of the Conversion of Saul. The man at the front falls backwards in a faint and is caught by two monks. The mi-parti-coloured hose worn by this figure includes a little embroidered owl sitting on a bare branch, no doubt intended as a symbol of evil.[13] Bosch decorated this garment with expensive embroidery incorporating a large number of pearls, telling us that this is an important and wealthy personage.[14] His fine cloak is fastened with a pin on which another bird can be seen.[15]
8.3 Little owl on the hose of the fainted man (cat 8B).
8.4 Signature (cat. 8B).
## Donors The vast landscape beyond the crucified martyr contains a church on the right and originally ran continuously into both wings, providing a background for two male donors. These were overpainted centuries ago, but can be made out clearly in X-ray and infrared images of the painting.[16] The two men kneel, their hands clasped together, and observe the scene in the central panel; they are positioned just above the low wall, which was already present in this preliminary composition. Each wears a wide-sleeved cloak with a brown fur collar, and a hat with a turned-up brim. The figure in the left wing wears a dark-blue toga and a reddish shirt. His counterpart on the right has a very dark cloak worn over a green, long-sleeved shirt, on top of which the artist laid a transparent layer of reddish-brown paint to create the effect of shot silk. The straight neckline of his shirt was decorated with an embroidered pattern.[17] We do not have sufficient evidence at this point to identify these donors or to place them in their sociocultural context. There is no reason, however, to suppose that they are Italians, as has been claimed repeatedly on the grounds of their costume.[18] ![8.5 XR.](cat8/CR_8_5.jpg) The wings were painted in at least three phases. In the first of these, the donors were placed in landscapes, with a large expanse of sky, which was rendered more consistently across all the panels. Adjustments were then made and the painting was completed in the second phase. The final phase included the overpainting of the donors, in the course of which substantial alterations were made to the landscapes; parts of the central panel were also painted over.[19] ![8.6 IRR of the donors (cat. 8AC, during restoration).](cat8/CR_8_6.jpg) During the second phase, the donor in the left wing was given a hat, the one worn by the donor on the right was adjusted, and their shoulders were made squarer. It was probably during this phase too that the neck of the martyr in the central panel was altered. The landscape near the donor's head in the right wing was adjusted, the initially higher coastline was lowered and the whale and the sinking ships were added. The warship and the fanciful architecture – the foremost tower is topped with an owl-like structure – were not left in reserve in the preparatory layer and might also have originated during the second phase.[20] ![8.7 Tower topped with an owl-like structure (cat. 8C, after restoration).](cat8/CR_8_7.jpg) Saint Anthony was added to the left wing during the final phase, now against the background of a burning city, to which end most of the panel was overpainted. The whole of the hollow tree to the left of the central panel was added, with its branches and foliage painted over the sky. Several green sections of landscape were painted brown, probably to make the transition to the dark, overpainted left wing less abrupt. The clouds in the central panel and the right wing, of which little now remains, are also likely to have been done during the third phase. The whole of the zone containing the donor in the right wing was painted over, from the parapet to the whale. The two large figures that have been added presumably relate to the scene in the central panel. The donors were painted over while respecting and exploiting the original composition. The cloak of the donor in the left wing, for instance, was substantially recycled in the one worn by Saint Anthony. What is more, the execution of the overpainting is closely related to the first and second painting phases. The skilfully rendered detail of the hanged man on the far right actually belongs to the final phase.[21] The overpainting is thus likely to have been done in Bosch's workshop as well, even though the execution feels a little cruder. The central panel has generally been painted more precisely than the overpainted wings, with a defter touch and greater virtuosity. The elements are larger yet more refined, as we see in the two men in the right foreground. Apparently, the donors were overpainted shortly after they had been included in the composition. It is not inconceivable that both men deceased before the triptych was completed and that the painter had to find another destination for the work. According to a 's-Hertogenbosch chronicle of 1496, around the time the triptych was painted, the city was affected by an outbreak of the 'Spanish' pox, also known as 'Job's disease'.[22] Because of the poor condition of the triptych and the overpainting, it was only possible to reveal fragments of the underdrawing. Where the latter could be documented – in the cloak of the swooning figure at the foot of the cross, for instance – it closely matches the style and method found in the underdrawing of other paintings by Hieronymus Bosch. ![8.8 IRR of the fainted man (cat. 8B, during restoration).](cat8/CR_8_8.jpg) ![8.9 The fainted man (cat. 8B, after restoration).](cat8/CR_8_9.jpg) ## Dating and provenance Dendrochronological dating of the central panel indicates that the triptych was definitely produced after 1491, and most probably after 1493. The triptych's original destination is not known. Saint Wilgefortis was venerated in many places in Brabant and Flanders,[23] with her most important shrine – said traditionally to be her burial place – located in Steenbergen in the west of Brabant. There was also an altar dedicated to the female martyr in St John's in 's-Hertogenbosch. A local chronicle stated around 1550 that an image of _Oncummera barbata_ – 'Uncumber with a beard' – could be seen on the altar,[24] a reference that has been seized on to identify St John's Church as the original home of the Venice triptych. Elsewhere, however, the author of the chronicle names Hieronymus Bosch explicitly (see cat. 5 and 6) and he would undoubtedly have done so here too if relevant. For the time being therefore, the identity of the two donors, the location for which the triptych was made, and the reason why it was reworked so soon after completion cannot be determined. The triptych found its way to Venice at a relatively early date, together with two other triptychs of almost identical form and size, the _Hermit Saints Triptych_ (cat. 2) and the Bruges _Last Judgement_ (cat. 16). _Saint Wilgefortis_ and the _Hermit Saints_ remained there, while the _Last Judgement_ later returned to the Southern Netherlands by way of the Balearic Islands. ![8.10 Fleeing the fire (cat. 8A, after restoration).](cat8/CR_8_10.jpg) ## References 1. '… un'altro quadro in tre comparti, ove si vede il martirio d'una Santa in Croce, con molte figure, & in particolare uno in terra caduto in fuenimento, sostenuto da diversi: & è dipinto da Girolamo Basi'. Boschini 1664, _Sestier di S. Marco_, 24; Boschini 1674, _Sestier di S. Marco_, 19. 2. '… e poi vi mette un quadro in trè comparti col martirio di un Santo coronato non d'una Santa, non di Girolamo Bassi, ma di Girolamo Bolch, come vedesi scritto in lettere Tedesche bianche …'. Zanetti 1733, 110. 3. 'Sono sei compartimenti. … Nei secondi la crocefissione d'un Santo o Santa martire. V'è in esti il nome del Pittore scritto così appunto: _Jeronimus Bosch_'. Zanetti 1771, 491. 4. Ludwig 1901, II, IV, with as source: _Codex misc. Des Archivio di Stato_, containing the 'Inventario dell'incomparabile tesoro delle Pitture (Magistrato del Sal)'. One of the three Bosch triptychs in Venice (either _Saint Wilgefortis_ or the _Hermit Saints Triptych_, which also had an arched top originally) is included in a view of the interior of the Sala dei Tre Capi del Consiglio dei Dieci by Gabriele Bella (1730–1799) in the Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice. We can see from this painting that the triptych was mounted as three separate panels next to one another in a single large gold frame. 5. Ludwig 1901, IV. 6. See also cat. 2, the _Hermit Saints Triptych_. Aug. Schaeffer ('Kunsthistorische Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses') quoted in 1899 the precise description of no. 653 from the museum catalogue, which makes no reference to painted reverses. Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 'Briefwisseling voor 1945', letter 11 July 1899. 7. Gessler 1937, 171–73; Gessler 1938, 134–37. 8. Dollmayr (1898, 289–90), followed immediately by von Frimmel (1899, 462 no. 653). Bax (1961) provides a good historiographical overview. 9. Slatkes 1975; recently raised again as a point of discussion by Hitchins 2014, 164–68. 10. Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges, inv. 0000.SJ0177.I. 11. The legend and iconography of Wilgefortis/Uncumber are dealt with by Gessler 1937; Gessler 1938; Bax 1961, 30–36; Gerlach 1966; Weckwerth 1974. 12. A seventeenth-century German _vita_ of Wilgefortis, which is believed to derive from an earlier hagiography, states that while on the cross, the saint converted up to 5,000 people to Christianity. Bax 1961, 32. 13. Ilsink 2009; Vandenbroeck 1985. 14. This fashion, which arose in the early fifteenth century and disappeared again around its end, is known from both visual and written sources. Van Buren and Wieck 2011, 208–11, 307, 373. 15. The detail cannot be securely identified, but it might be a phoenix. 16. This was observed during restoration in Venice as early as 1950–51 (XR and IR photographs) and a study carried out at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1958 (IR photographs). Moschini 1952, 79, 81 n. 2; Von Baldass 1959, 42, no. 102, 103; Bax 1961, 7, 14, 38, 44–45, pls. IV, V, XIV, XV (where erroneously an XR is shown rather than an IR photograph). New XR images made after the removal of the cradle and new IR images taken after the painting was cleaned in 2013–15 allow us to view the donors much more clearly. 17. Observed using a binocular microscope. There was ample opportunity for this during the examination and restoration of the painting. 18. Bax 1961, 44–45; Slatkes 1975. 19. Analysis of paint samples revealed a resinous layer – possibly varnish – between the donor figures and the overpainting. 20. Bosch even painted the birds that are flying towards the owl-like structure. Cf. the corresponding detail on the reverse of _Saint John on Patmos_ (cat. 6), the building to the left of the pelican. In that case, the association with the owl is not developed, though. 21. The painting of this figure is very similar to that of the reverse of _Saint John on Patmos_ and the closed wings of the _Adoration of the Magi_ (cat. 6 and 9). Add URLs? 22. Van Bavel et al. 2002, 59. 23. Wichmans 1632, 597–99; Knippenberg 1968, 40–44. 24. Desmense 1995, 27.