Virgin and Child between Saints James and John the Baptist

myminifactory

This relief is typical of many funerary monuments produced in Naples during the latter half of the 1300s. St. James and St. John the Baptist on the relief could indicate the name of the deceased, as people often placed their patron saints on tombs or artworks they commissioned. The relief was sold at a London Sotheby's sale on March 13, 1931, where it was identified as an altar front from the church of San Martino in Naples. It was attributed to Tino di Camaino, but this attribution was later removed by John Pope-Hennessy in his 1952 catalogue. Further research is needed to determine the origin of the V&A relief. The relief shares similarities with the Artus tomb, but it's difficult to tell which came first. The shared motif of an angel standing over a heraldic shield could suggest that the creator of one tomb knew of the other. The carving style on the V&A relief appears to be quite different from the Artus tomb. However, the saints and child Jesus share an intensity of expression due to faint tracings of incised pupils. The presence of St. James and St. John the Baptist could indicate either the dedication of the church in which the owner was buried or the patron or name saint of the deceased. The V&A relief is located in the Medieval & Renaissance gallery, room 50a, in the Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery, case WN, shelf EXP. It was purchased by the museum for £40 pounds in 1946.