Saint William of Aquitaine with a Donor, possibly a member of the Albret family (recto); Saint Jerome (verso); and Saint Catherine (recto); Saint Agnes (verso)

These shutters originally formed part of a triptych, the central panel of which depicted the Virgin and Child. As discussed by Max Friedländer (op. cit., p. 90), this central panel was executed by the Master of the Magdalene Legend after a prototype by Rogier van der Weyden, but the shutters are by a hand closer in style to the Master of the Legend of Saint Catherine, the latter possibly identifiable with Pieter van der Weyden, Rogier’s son (see D. Martens, ‘Portrait explicite et portrait implicite à la fin du Moyen Âge: l' exemple du Maître de la Légende de sainte Catherine (alias Piérot de le Pasture?)’, Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 1998).

The male saint was previously thought to be Saint Arnold of Soissons; however, he has since been identified as Saint William of Aquitaine on account of the Benedictine habit over his armour and the absence of a bishop’s mitre. The second Duke of Toulouse (c.755-812/814), and a distant cousin of Charlemagne, William defeated the forces of Hisham I when they declared holy war and invaded Languedoc in 793. He later founded Gellone Abbey, becoming a monk and retiring there in 806. He was canonised a saint in 1066 and his legend grew rapidly, with an entire cycle of chansons de geste being dedicated to his history. The earliest of these, the Chanson de Guillaume, dates to circa 1140, bestowed on him the nickname Fièrebrace (‘fierce’ or ‘strong arm’).

Saint William presents a kneeling donor to the (now absent) Virgin and Child. Recent research suggests that this is a member of the Albret family, as the saint holds a flag that is almost identical to the Albret coat of arms (quarterly, one and four azure with three fleur-de-lys or, two and three gules). The seigneurie d’Albert was one of the most powerful feudal families in France. At the date at which the shutters were executed, the head of the family was Alain the Great (1440-1522) who, despite waging the ‘Mad War’ of 1485-1488 against royal authority in the hopes of marrying Anne of Brittany, was very successful in augmenting his dynastic power through the astute marriages of his children. His eldest son, Jean, became King iure uxoris of Navarre through his marriage to Catherine, Queen of Navarre in 1484 (through which line Alain would become the great-grandfather of King Henry IV of France). In addition to which, he successfully agreed the match of his daughter to Cesare Borgia in 1499, aligning the family with the Papacy.

The triptych remained of a piece until its sale in 1989, after which point it must have been dismantled. The central panel of the triptych was sold at Christie’s, London, 7 July 2000, lot 24 (£333,750).