Two saints on a pilgrimage to Rome, possibly St Jodocus with a companion (St Koloman?),
oil and tempera on panel, 74 x 41,5 cm, framed

Provenance:
private collection, Vienna

We are grateful to Christof Metzger for his kind assistance in cataloguing this painting.

In an expert report dating from 1950, Ludwig Baldass refers to the present painting as a work of the Vienna school dating to ca. 1480. However the painting was not made in Vienna but presumably in the Zips (Spis), part of a region formerly known as Upper Hungary, present-day north-eastern Slovakia, which comprises the towns of Kaschau (Kosice), Leutschau (Levoca), Käsmark (Kezmarok), and Bartfeld (Bardejov). The churches of the Spis, once a wealthy mining region, still house numerous winged altars of high artistic quality. The chequered floor in the painting, which merges with the punched gilt wall behind it, can also be found in several other Sips altarpieces, e.g. in the St Catherine altar at Kezmarok/Slovakia. Another comparable example is the Virgin altar (1493/94) of Kirchdrauf (Spisské Podhradie), today at the Bratislava National Gallery. The figures depicted in these altarpieces, similar to those in the painting at hand, are distinguished by their striking volume, effected by the opulent, almost sculpted drapery of their garments.