Details

Object type

painting

Title

St Margaret, after Raphael

Artist/Maker

David Teniers the younger artist

Culture/School

Flemish

Date

circa 1651-1660

Materials

oil on panel

Dimensions

framed: 518 x 454 x 83 mm; unframed: 270 mm x 208 mm

Description

In 1651 Teniers was appointed court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands. He was also curator of the Archduke’s collection of paintings. One of his duties was to paint small copies of 244 of the finest of the Archduke’s Italian pictures. Engravings were made from the painted copies and published in 1658 as the Theatrum pictorum Davidis Teniers.

The publication ensured that the magnificent art collection could be enjoyed by a large public, thus enhancing the Archduke’s international reputation. Teniers also painted a number of views of the Archduke’s picture gallery in Brussels, in which St Margaret, then thought to be by Raphael but now re-attributed to his pupil Giulio Romano, is clearly visible. In 1656 the whole collection was transferred to Vienna where St Margaret can now be seen in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The subject of this picture, St Margaret, was said to have been a maiden of Antioch martyred under Diocletian arondd 304 AD. Legend has it that a fierce dragon swallowed her before she was beheaded. She survived the dragon because of her Christian faith, here symbolized by the crucifix she holds in her left hand.

Credit Line/Donor

Archibald McLellan Collection, purchased, 1856

Collection

Archibald McLellan Collection

ID Number

37

Location

In storage