St Gregory (verso)

Saint Gregory, depicted on the verso of a Bowes Museum panel attributed to the Master of the View of Saint Gudula around 1467, represents Gregory the Great — pope from 590 to 604 and one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church. In altarpiece construction, verso panels often showed single saints facing outward when the altarpiece was closed, protecting the interior narrative scenes while offering a devotional image to viewers. Gregory was typically depicted in white papal vestments with the Holy Spirit as a dove whispering in his ear — a reference to legends about his divinely inspired theological writings. Together with Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose on adjacent versos, he completed the quartet of Western Church Fathers.

Oil on panel, likely in a static frontal or three-quarter composition suited to exterior altarpiece panels. Northern painters sometimes rendered exterior panels in grisaille (imitation stone) to contrast with the colorful interiors when opened; Gregory's papal tiara, dove, and theological texts would have identified him unambiguously to contemporary viewers.