The Master of Saint Giles was a Franco-Flemish painter active, probably in Paris, about 1500, working in a delicate Late Gothic

Gothic art

Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...

 manner, with rendering of textures and light and faithful depictions of actual interiors that show his affinities with Netherlandish painting

Early Netherlandish painting

Early Netherlandish painting refers to the work of artists active in the Low Countries during the 15th- and early 16th-century Northern renaissance, especially in the flourishing Burgundian cities of Bruges and Ghent...

. It is not clear whether the Master of Saint Giles was a French painter who trained in the Low Countries

Low Countries

The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

 (perhaps more likely), or a Netherlander who emigrated to France.

His pseudonym was given him by Max Friedländer

Max Jakob Friedländer

Max Jakob Friedländer was a German art expert and art historian . He attained the rank and title of "Geheimrat" under the German Empire....

, who reconstructed part of the anonymous painter's oeuvre, starting from two panels devoted to Saint Giles

Saint Giles

Saint Giles was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the...

 (a Miracle and a Mass) in the National Gallery, London, that were part of the lefthand shutter of an altarpiece, and two further panels now in Washington from the same altarpiece. The hand of an assistant can be discerned in the Baptism of Clovis at the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

, Washington, who also have a panel with Episodes from the Life of a Bishop-Saint - perhaps Saint Leu, Saint Denis or Saint Remy. All four panels have, or had, single grisaille

Grisaille

Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...

 figures of saints (Saints Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

, Giles, Denis and an unidentified bishop-saint) in niches, imitating sculpture, on the reverse. The Washington pair, which were in poor condition, have been separated and are lost, although photographs exist. Undoubtedly there were further panels, whose subjects cannot be guessed, as the combination of scenes is original.

Settings of the altarpiece

The original location of the altarpiece has not yet been confirmed, although the choice of three scenes including Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 Kings, and the very specific settings of scenes in the Abbey of Saint-Denis (Mass of Saint Giles, London), where the Kings of France were crowned, the royal Chapel of Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle

La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval...

 (Baptism of Clovis

Clovis I

Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...

), and outside the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...

 (Episodes), suggest a commission very close to the crown, perhaps the cover for the high altar at Saint-Denis. Another candidate is the church of St Leu-St-Gilles, on the Rue Saint-Denis in Paris. The unidentified bishop-saint stands on the steps of the now vanished church of Saint-Jean-le-Rond, next door to Notre-Dame, the main entrance to which can be seen behind to the left. The small church was used as a baptistry. Opposite the cathedral is the Hôtel-Dieu

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris

The Hôtel-Dieu de Paris is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris hospitals. The hospital is linked to the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes...

. Both buildings survived until the eighteenth century, and are known from engravings. The panel with the King hunting probably shows a view of Pontoise

Pontoise

Pontoise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...

, now in the north-western suburbs of Paris. The views shown appear very accurate where they can be confirmed by later pictures, or their survival to the present, and the view of Saint-Denis in particular is a valuable record of the church-furnishings of the day, all destroyed before or during the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

.

Other works

More specific Netherlandish connections include his adaptation of Madonna types developed by Rogier van der Weyden, evinced by the head of a lady at the Metropolitan Museum, and a Madonna and Child, probably early, in the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

. To him is attributed a portrait of Philip the Handsome

Philip I of Castile

Philip I , known as Philip the Handsome or the Fair, was the first Habsburg King of Castile...

 (Winterthur

Winterthur

Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

), who visited Paris in 1501, that appears to be the original version of one of the most common portrait types of this prince. There are two saints in Bern which show a more massive French style. A Betrayal of Christ in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 is a night-scene, illuminated only by a lantern. Like the Estonian-born Michael Sittow

Michael Sittow

Michael Sittow, also known as Master Michiel, Michel Sittow, Michiel, Miguel and many other variants was a painter from Reval who was trained in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting...

 and Jean Hey (the Master of Moulins), he may demonstrate the international spread of Netherlandish style, or like Juan de Flandes

Juan de Flandes

Juan de Flandes was an Early Netherlandish painter who was active in Spain from 1496 to 1519; his actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Staat"...

, the spread of Netherlandish painters.