Saint Martin & the beggar - National Musuem of Poland

 Salvete Omnes,
couple more days to Christmas' Eve so let us enjoy two images of my favorite saintly horseman - Saint Martin - from Polish National Museum: both are the XVII century pieces.

unknown painter from the Hapsburg Austrian realm

 

Wallerant Vaillant print -mezzotint

The Sobieski family portrait - one of the sons wore his arm-guards and gorget in a manner not  dissimilar to  saint Martin's partial armor in the painting above.

Valete

Christmas is coming - onto Bethlehem

Salvete Omnes,

 

Giovanni Badile - Maria Gravita

Christmas is coming fast to our homes, only 5 days to Christmas' Eve - so in the spirit of Gospels I corralled some mosaics, carvings, paintings and their details from the pre-XVII century period  showing the Holy Family traveling, by donkey and with Virgin Mary very pregnant, from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

first  a medieval ivory carving - from Amalfi, then part of  the Norman Italian realm, early XII century -

Byzantine, XIV century, mosaic from  Chora church (mosque nowadays in Turkiye) - the donkey looks high bred and almost noble.

Bruegel the Elder, 1599 - The Census at Bethlehem. - details

and one more detail  from Hugo van der Goes' work (Portinari Triptych) -

enjoy

Valete

Ximenez & Bernat - Spanish XV century bridles

 Salvete Omnes.

it is December 2022, so we could canter to the Medieval iconography 'pastures' for some inspiration and beauty.

So today the splendid works by two Spanish (as of present Kingdom of Spain) painters - 
Martin Bernat
Miguel Ximenez

From various museums including Del Prado & Saragossa etc 

Bridles with curb-bits and horse & rider, in all the splendors of the late Xv century Spain

..

..

my favorite Saint Martin by Ximenez - I wonder if the horse is a caballo de paso or a palfrey, with his high action displayed while walking.

and Saint Sebastian in full late XV century Spanish nobleman attire 

Saint Michael outfitted as a Castillian or Aragonese knight, minus the wings obviously

..
in this painting - we see two types of swords used during this period in the Spanish realms

a straight sword with an elaborate hilt and the falchion or langes messer one with a sabre like hilt

Valate

San Martin by Blasco de Granen (1422-1459)

 Salvete Omnes,

as you may recall, dear web traveler, I like to 'corral'  images of Saint  Martin of Tours, and I got this new Saint Martin for  today - the Feast of Saint Nicolas

from Iglesia de San Martin in a town of Las Penas de Riglos, Huesc, old Kingdom of Aragon,  comes a painting by an Aragonese painter Plasco de Granen (1422-1459).

Saint Martin astride a bay horse - 

some interesting details of bridle, saddle, bit, breastplate, crouper, cinch, stirrup and stirrup leathers, spurs, and horse shoes: 

Enjoy your Saint Nicolas Feast Day - :)

Valete

Master of Rohan Hours - chivalry splendors

 Salvete Omnes,

dog days of the Summer are continuing on gloriously   - so another 'slow cavalcade'  to the fabulous word of XV century chivalry and medieval manuscript painting  - this time the so called(because the painter is anonymous) master of Rohan book of Hours.
the Hours can be viewed at leisure at the Gallica -French National Library digital site.

Wikipedia has this entry, while world library archive has various volumes available for borrowing - eg The Rohan Master and The Rohan book of Hours.

and I corralled some horse related illuminations from this amazing volume - 

Valete

Saint Martin Feast

Salvete Omnes,
 Today, on this Veterans Day and Polish Independence Day  we also have saint Martin of Tours Feast day.
In Poznań, one of the oldest cities of Poland  and also one of the early capitals of the Piast Kingdom of Poland, they celebrate the feast with the Saint Martin Feast Day Parade along the Swiety Marcin Street, eating cooked or baked goose and a very special pastry: Rogal świętomarciński (Saint Martin roll), and visiting museums and many churches, perhaps especially the Swiety Marcin Catholic Church in the center of Poznan.
 
Let us celebrate with some XV and early XVI century manuscript illuminations from Europe.
 

 
 from this Burgundian Breviary of Jean San Peur and Marguerite of Bavaria.
their  funerary effigies below

and from the Hours of Anne de Bretagne:

   The New York City-located Morgan Library has plenty of priceless manuscripts,   and in this XV century Hours of Catherine  de Cleves, showing beautifully painted illuminations painted  by an anonymous  scribe for the pious patron, you can see Saint Martin portrayed as a wealthy nobleman and knight of the times sharing his fabulous cloak with a beggar. You can study his horse tack by enlarging the page...

Valete

Saint Martin from Colmar

Salve,
today we will travel back to the European Medieval equestrian imagery, this time from the Gothic period of the Medieval art.  Namely, the Saint Martin de Tours Collegiate Roman Catholic church at Colmar, Alsace region of France, has some amazing art that has survived the upheavals of history,  including the barbarian period of the French Revolution and destruction caused by those son of liberty and progress... It used to be the home of this amazing Northern Gothic painting by the Colmar native, Martin Schongauer, called Madonna in the Rose Garden - a bit more here. But now it can be viewed at the Dominican Church .
The western fasade (face of the building) of this Gothic church has a portal, with several lovely horses carved inside the tympanum (the nativity scene, showing the Magi paying homage to Christ etc) and a gable with a mounted figure of Saint Martin de Tours sharing his coat with a beggar.

Firstly, our warrior Saint Martin from the gable. The spirited horse appears to be a riding horse or a palfrey and perhaps a gaited horse (his legs  somewhat indicate this). It is unclear if his bridle has a snaffle bit or a curb-bit, while the breastplate-crouper arrangement is typical for the period (we get some detail as to their attachment to the saddle tree). The rider is using a relaxed, deep seat, with his legs somewhat flexed but extended (sort of a Dom Duarte's variation) and firm in wide-base stirrups. No spur is visible.

The Unterlinden Dominican Convent Museum (famous for the Isenheim Altarpiece)  houses a damaged statue of Saint Martin, sculpted circa AD 1300.

The horses from the tympanum

Interestingly, all three mounts of the Magi have bridles with snaffle bit, while the saddles are typical high arches affairs, with only the breastplate visible, but we get a nice view of a stirrup, and the saddle-skirts as well as the double girth arrangement. Horses have a look of a palfreys and thus are noble riding horses, but not the dextrarius or war horse appearance.
I was there recently, but my own pictures are not adequate so I am using Wiki Commons collections, eg (1)- for which I am grateful.
enjoy
ps
by accident I stumbled upon this unusual or rather bizzare Medieval art artifact - Judensau, prevalent in the Holy Roman Empire and adjacent countries,  that also can be found at Colmar's Saint Martin church - a photo here.

St. Martin at Poznań - kings & winged hussars

Salve,

continuing with the theme of Saint Martin of Tours i would like to bring to your attention a painting from Poznań, w Greater Poland,

that not only brings the narration of our Saint sharing his cloak with a beggar while entering Amiens (France), but also it is a large and equestrain group portrait of the Polish Crown rulers, king Sigismund (the first imaged in this post) and his son Wladyslaw, and magnates and important figures, and also winged hussars of the era, all armoured from cap to toe -:) .  it was painted by a local artisit and priest - Krzysztof Boguszewski Ostoja coat of arms, circa 1628 and is located in St. Martin chappel at the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, Poznań.

winged hussars

By the way, in Poznań  there is a church named St.Martin, and from that church runs  a main street named Saint Martin Street (the Polish-Soviet Communists tried to obliterate this name, and failed) and each  year on November 11 you can eat a special Saint Martin croissant - 'rogal świętomarciński' - as Poznań celebrates this Saint's name day :) with a parade and sweets.
enjoy