St Bavo

St Bavo, at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, depicts the seventh-century Flemish nobleman who gave away his wealth and became a hermit—a saint particularly venerated in the Low Countries, where the Cathedral of St Bavo in Ghent was dedicated to him. Geertgen tot Sint Jans painted this panel around 1490 as part of a wing or devotional series, showing Bavo with his hawk and sword—attributes connecting him to his aristocratic origins before conversion. Geertgen's delicate, dreamlike figure style makes this a characteristic example of early Haarlem painting.

Bavo stands in a three-quarter view against a neutral dark ground, his hawk perched on his gloved hand and his sword by his side. Geertgen's characteristically soft, luminous treatment of flesh tones is evident in the saint's face, the skin modeled with fine, closely hatched strokes of oil paint that create a tender, almost porcelain-like surface quality.