Master Thomas de Coloswar
The Death of St. Giles
1427
Tempera on pine wood,
89.5 x 69 cm
Christian Museum,
Esztergom
The
painting's title notwithstanding, in the Golden Legend Giles did not die
of this wound.
The legend in the bottom left reads "Sanctus Egidius confessor" -- "Saint Giles the
Confessor."
"The picture shows one
of the panels of the Garamszentbenedek Altarpiece.
Nicholas, a canon of
Gyõr,
who was also cantor of the royal chapel in Buda Castle, in 1427
commissioned
Master Thomas, painter of Coloswar (Kolozsvár) to make a
polyptych
for the high altar of the Abbey Church at Garamszentbenedek (today
Hronsky
Benadik, Slovakia). Ending in a pointed arch, the central picture of
the
polyptych (which consists of nine panels) represents the Crucifixion,
the
internal wings are decorated with four episodes of the Passion and the
external ones with scenes taken from the lives of several saints. (One
of the latter has been lost, and so has the predella with the
inscription
about the donation.) The panel representing St Giles is the top quarter
of the external wing on the right, its rounded corner following the
line
of the arch of the central picture."
-- Web Gallery of Art
More of St.
Giles