Aragonese School, circa 1480

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 17 December 1998, lot 342 (as Circle of Miguel Ximenez);

Where acquired by the present collector.

Produced in Aragon in the late fifteenth century, this formidable pair of male saints must have originally comprised a sumptuous pictorial ensemble. Rendered in bold, rich colors and set within geometrically rigorous spaces, the standing saints possess weighty presences, achieved in part through the rigorous underdrawing used to individualize their physiognomies and define their forms. Each saint holds a book as well as his identifying attribute: Saint Peter's key to the kingdom of heaven and Saint John the Baptist's lamb of God.