Lot 2139 Dα

Michel Erhart, attributed to

A fragmentary carved poplar bust of Saint Bernardino of Siena, attributed to Michel Erhart

Carved in the round, the reverse flattened and with a hole to the back of the head, previously boarded over. With the original polychromy. The present work has at some point been sawn from a standing figure to form a bust of the monk Saint Bernadino of Siena, who died in 1444 and can be recognised by his mendicant garb and angular, hollow-cheeked features. The naturalistically painted work appears to aspire to portrait-like similarity, as the saint's appearance was recorded in portraits painted during his lifetime and in his death mask preserved in L'Aquila. This piece is the earliest sculpted representation of the saint known north of the Alps and displays strong stylistic similarity to the figures of monks made by Erhart's workshop for the Dominican Church of the Holy Cross in Bad Wimpfen am Berg in 1475. Bernhard Decker confirmed his attribution of this work to Michel Erhart in discussions with Wolfgang Deutsch (Schwäbisch Hall) and Albrecht Müller (Ottobrunn).
Wear with losses. An open crack to the centre of the reverse. Height 40 cm.