Lot 1430 Dα

Joseph Heintz was one of the most important proponents of the so-called Prague school - an international and cosmopolitan circle of artists which Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612) gathered around him. Following early sojourns to Rome and Venice, Heintz resided alternately in Prague and Augsburg between 1598 and 1609. The present work shows one of the most important scenes in the life of Saint Martin, a Hungarian soldier serving in the Roman army. The Legenda Aurea tells of how he spotted a freezing beggar upon his arrival in Amiens and, in a spontaneous act of charity, cut his cloak in half with his sword, sharing half with the old man. In a dream the following night it was revealed to him that he had given his cloak to Jesus in the guise of a beggar and this revelation prompted him to convert to Christianity and spread the good word throughout Gaul. In religion and in art, the cutting of Saint Martin's cloak inspires us to charitable deeds.
Here, Heintz presents a refined depiction of the Saint Martin narrative on an oval canvas. He shows the knight almost frontally on horseback with the beggar on the right. The scene is framed on the left and right by two repoussior figures of a sleeping sentinel and a dark-skinned page on the one side, and a further beggar with his wife on the other. The background shows parts of the city wall on the left and a landscape view on the right.