Detail of St. James the Greater in the Cloisters, October 2010

Saint James the Greater

Gil de Siloe
(Spanish, active 1475–1505)

Date: ca. 1489–93

Geography: Made in Burgos, Castile-León, Spain

Culture: Spanish

Medium: Alabaster, gold, and paint

Dimensions: Overall: 18 1/16 in. (45.9 cm)

Classification: Sculpture-Stone

Credit Line: The Cloisters Collection, 1969

Accession Number: 69.88

Description: This figure is one of many that Gil de Siloe and his assistants produced to surmount the tomb of Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal. The monumentality and the quality of carving suggest that this figure was executed by the master himself. Saint James the Greater, patron saint of Spain, wears a hat with an upturned brim decorated with a scallop shell and crossed pilgrim staffs like those customarily worn by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/471884