Saint Vincent, Saint Martin and Saint Sebastian
Author: Évora, Workshop of Espinheiro
Date: ca 1530
Material: Oil on wood
Dimensions (cm): H 179 x W 170
Provenance: Guimarães, Mosteiro de Santa Marinha da Costa
Inventory No.: MAS P 61
Three saints – Saint Vincent, Saint Martin and Saint Sebastian – fill this panel and they are identified by phylacteries placed at their feet, where their Latin names are inscribed. Saint Martin is depicted according to an unusual iconography, giving alms to the beggar and already with the vestments of his episcopate in Tours (France). On the right side, one can see the fleeting figure of the archer who martyred Saint Sebastian, who is about to receive from the hands of an angel the crown and the palm that are the symbols of his condition of Christian martyr. Saint Vincent is also depicted with his iconographical attributes, namely the crow, which, with the beak, holds the cartouche with the name of the saint thus highlighting it. The boats in the horizon line may be another element that alludes to Saint Vincent’s legendary story.
This painting, resulting from a collaborative work, comes from the Convento do Espinheiro, whose exclusivity, in terms of artistic production, the Hieronymite tradition attributes to the renowned Hieronymite friar of Flemish origin, Carlos. It presents a good quality of execution and it documents the Portuguese-Flemish repertoire that met a widespread expansion in the south of the country in the second quarter of the 16th century.