This sculpture, probably from a retable (decoration behind an altar) depicting Jesus commanding the palm tree to bend down so that the Holy Family could eat its fruit, is based upon New Testament Apocrypha, episodes from the life of Jesus not recounted in the Gospels. The composition is derived from an engraving by Martin Schongauer, dated about 1476.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Detail - Virgin Mary and Jesus
Detail - Virgin Mary and Jesus
Detail - Jesus
Detail - Joseph picking fruit
Detail - Joseph
Detail - Angel 1 bending down a palm tree
Detail - Angel 2 bending down a palm tree
Artwork Details
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Title:The Miracle of the Palm Tree on the Flight to Egypt
Date:ca. 1490–1510
Geography:Made in Spain
Culture:Spanish
Medium:Walnut, gesso, paint, and gilding
Dimensions:49 3/4 × 36 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 110 lb. (126.4 × 92.7 × 26.7 cm, 49.9 kg)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1938
Object Number:38.184
Inscription: On the cloak of the Virgin: Monogram S M surmounted by a crown [monogram of the Santamaría family, Burgos, Castile]
Said to come from the Cathedral of Calahorra in La Rioja, Spain
; [ Emile Pares, Madrid, Paris and New York (from at least 1915–sold 1919)]; his sale, American Art Galleries, December 8-13, 1919, no. 297; William Randolph Hearst (American), New York and San Simeon (1919–1938)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain," October 13, 2019–February 17, 2020.
Collection of Retrospective paintings and art objects From the XII to the XVIII Centuries comprising wood and ivory carvings...being the property of M. Emile Pares of Paris and Madrid. New York: Anderson Galleries, Inc., 1915. lot no. 257, pp. 59–60.
The entire extensive stock and recently added private collection of Emil Pares. New York: American Art Association, December 8-13, 1919. lot no. 297.
Alexander, Christine, and Josephine Lansing Allen. "Notes." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34, no. 11 (November 1939). p. 266.
Forsyth, William H. "A Spanish Medieval Relief: The Miracle of the Palm Tree." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34, no. 8 (August 1939). pp. 197–200, fig. 2.
Forsyth, William H. Medieval Sculptures of the Virgin and Child: A Picture Book. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1939. fig. 20.
Luce, Stephen Bleecker. "Archaeological News and Discussions." American Journal of Archaeology: The Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America 46, no. 2 (April-June 1942). p. 271.
Ten Broeck, Lynn. "Medieval Sculptures." The Compleat Collector 3, no. 2 (December 1942). pp. 18–19, ill. cover.
de Lecuona, Manuel. "Esculturas calahorranas en Nueva York." Berceo 9 (1948). pp. 587–591.
Leeuwenberg, Jaap. "De vluchte naar Egypte." Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 4, no. 1 (1956). p. 21, fig. 8.
Frinta, Mojmír. "The Use of Wax for Appliqué Relief Brocade on Wooden Statuary." Studies in Conservation 8, no. 4 (1963). p. 141, 143, fig. 6, 7.
Fisher, Sally. The Square Halo and Other Mysteries of Western Art: Images and the Stories that Inspire Them. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. p. 62.
San Felipe Adán, María Antonia. "'El milagro de la palmera' o Calahorra y Ciudadano Kane." Kalakorikos 12 (2007). pp. 177–96, fig. 6.
Wixom, William D. "Late Medieval Sculpture in the Metropolitan: 1400 to 1530." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 64, no. 4 (Spring 2007). p. 38.
Geelen, Ingrid, and Delphine Steyaert. Imitation and Illusion: Applied Brocade in the Art of the Low Countries in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Scientia Artis 6. Brussels: Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium, 2011. p. 475.
Levkoff, Mary. "Hearst and Spain." In Collecting Spanish Art: Spain's Golden Age and America's Gilded Age. New York: The Frick Collection, 2012. pp. 178–79, fig. 4.
Dickerson, C.D. III, and Mark McDonald, ed. Alonso Berruguete: first sculptor of Renaissance Spain. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 2019. p. 195.
Metropolitan Museum of Art McDonald, Mark. "The Role of Prints." In Alonso Berruguete: first sculptor of Renaissance Spain. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 2019. p. 134, fig. 113.
Perratore, Julia. "The Art of Medieval Iberia at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Met Cloisters." La Corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures 50, no. 1–2 (Fall 2021–Spring 2022). p. 444, pl. 11.
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