Provenance
Chevalier Alexandre de Lestang-Parade, Aix-en-Provenance, by 1823.[1] Count Melchoir de Lestang-Parade, Aix-en-Provence; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-20 May 1882, nos. 105, 106, as anonymous fifteenth century). Baron Etienne Martin de Beurnonville [d. 1881], Paris; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21-22 May 1883, nos. 43, 44, as Burgundian School, fifteenth century). M. Watel, Paris, 1883.[2] (Paris art market, by 1937.)[3] (Wildenstein and Co., Paris and New York, 1938-1946;) purchased 1946 by Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.
[1] [Jean-Baptiste-François Porte], _Aix ancien et moderne, ou Description des Édifices sacres et profanes, Établissements, Monumens[sic] antiques, du moyen âge et modernes, Bibliotèques, Cabinets, Promenades d'Aix, etc., etc...._ (Aix-en-Provence, 1823), 147.
[2] According to Alfred de Champeaux, "Deux vues de la Cité de Paris au XVe siècle," _La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité_, no. 23 (1883), 187.
[3] Max J. Friedländer, "Le Maître de Saint-Gilles," _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, 6e per. 17 (1937), 223.
[4] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2088.
Accession Number
1952.2.15
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
painted surface: 61.5 x 45.5 cm (24 3/16 x 17 15/16 in.) | overall (panel): 63.3 x 46.7 cm (24 15/16 x 18 3/8 in.) | framed: 82.07 × 66.36 × 9.21 cm (32 5/16 × 26 1/8 × 3 5/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Tags
Painting Renaissance (1400–1599) Oil Painting Panel Painting
Background & Context
Background Story
The Master of Saint Giles (active c. 1490-1510) was a Franco-Flemish painter named after a pair of panels depicting scenes from the life of Saint Giles, known for the precise detail and elegant narrative manner that distinguish the best Franco-Flemish painting of the late 15th century. The Baptism of Clovis from c. 1500 depicts the baptism of the Frankish king Clovis—the founding event of Catholic France—in the precise, narrative manner that distinguishes the Master of Saint Giles. The c. 1500 date places this at the turn of the 16th century, when Franco-Flemish painting was producing some of its most accomplished narrative works.
Cultural Impact
The Baptism of Clovis is important in the history of French painting because it depicts the founding event of Catholic France—the baptism of the Frankish king that established Catholicism as the religion of the French nation. The Master of Saint Giles's precise, narrative manner gives the founding event of French Catholicism the visual dignity it required, creating a painting that is simultaneously a religious subject and a statement of French national identity.
Why It Matters
The Baptism of Clovis is the Master of Saint Giles depicting the founding of Catholic France: the baptism of the Frankish king rendered with the precise narrative manner and elegant detail that distinguish the best Franco-Flemish painting. The c. 1500 painting is simultaneously a religious subject and a statement of French national identity.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)
