German School, 17th century

Franciscan convent, Wetzlar (according to a label affixed to the verso);

Anonymous sale, Bremen, Bolland & Marotz, 13 April 2013, lot 1324 (as German School, 17th century);

Private collection, United States;

From whom acquired by the present owner, 2018.

This grand and elegant depiction of Saint Barbara presents her crowned and bearing her traditional attributes: the palm of martyrdom, a sword, and a chalice with the host. The virgin martyr is shown as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, or Nothelfer, saints venerated in times of distress. Although the artist remains unknown, the painting is closely related to a Saint Anthony of Padua in the Städische Sammlungen, Wetzlar.

At the right stands the tower where Barbara's pagan father, Dioscorus, locked her away in an effort to shield her from overly zealous suitors and where she was secretly baptized as a Christian. In the background at left, a narrative vignette shows Saint Stanislaus Kostka on his deathbed receiving the Viaticum—the Eucharist administered as part of the last rites—from an angel. Saint Barbara stands beside him, emphasizing her role insuring that the final sacraments are received. The black dog in the foreground refers to a legend in which Saint Stanislaus repelled the devil, who had taken the form of a dog, by making the sign of the cross. Likely painted shortly after his canonization in 1726, the work reflects the devotional spirit of German Catholicism and once belonged to a Franciscan convent in Wetzlar.