Unidentified saint
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Victoria and Albert Museum
RoomSculpture 1300-1600, Room 27London, United Kingdom
On public display.
- Checked
- 7 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the sculpture
This figure relates to the tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, carried out by the Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano. It is a slightly reduced replica of one of the bronze figures on the grate around the tomb. The tomb comprises of gilt bronze effigies surrounded by a grille. Only six out of original thirty-two figures remain on the grate, and these six have been in place since the inventory of the early eighteenth century. The pendant figure to this statuette that of St John the Evangelist (inv.no. A.76-1949), was considered to be so closely related to the grate figures that it was thought to have been a cast taken from one of the missing statuettes.
Read on
The dating for this figure and its pendant is one that has aroused much debate since acquisition in 1949. The debate concerning the dating of these terracottas is noted in departmental records. The earlier date of around 1505 was suggested by the fact that the production of cast figures of saints, such as this and the pendant figure would have been unlikely after the Reformation. The figure is a 'squeeze' or cast in terracotta. A 'squeeze' is a type of cast usually made in stucco, or terracotta taken from another object. The process was common in Italy during the 15th and early 16th centuries as it provided an economic means of manufacturing versions of popular compositions. The taking of squeezes and casts in terracotta was known in London around the start of the sixteenth century.
Thermo-luminescence testing (a scientific means of determining the age of a ceramic object by establishing when it was fired) carried out in 1987 suggested that the two statuettes were fired in the early to mid eighteenth century and therefore not contemporary with the original bronze figures surrounding the tomb. However, despite this result, for stylistic and religious reasons and those outlined above, a date of around 1505, contemporary with the grate itself, has been given.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- A.77-1949
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
