Gil de Siloe
St. James the Greater

Information provided by the Metropolitan Museum, New York:

Gil de Siloe (Spanish, active 1467—1505)
Spanish; Made in Burgos
Alabaster, gold, polychromy; H. 18 1/16 in. (45.9 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1969 (69.88)

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.