St James and St Giles Abad

Jacomart's Saints James and Giles the Abbot, painted around 1450 and now in the Museu de Belles Arts de València, depicts two major saints — the Apostle James the Greater, patron of Spain, and Giles (Aegidius), the seventh-century Provençal hermit abbot who was one of the most popular saints of the medieval West, particularly venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Jacomart, court painter to Alfonso V of Aragon, was the dominant artistic personality in Valencia in the mid-fifteenth century, and this panel demonstrates how he served the devotional needs of the Valencian church and its patrons through the production of refined, courtly altarpiece images.

Oil and tempera on panel with the refined elegance characteristic of Jacomart's best work. The two saints are presented in the standard devotional format — standing full-length or half-length with their identifying attributes, the scallop shell and pilgrim staff for James, the hind for Giles.