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Dimensions: 102 by 79 cm.; 40 1/4 by 31 1/8 in.

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Provenance: Formerly Reder collection, Brussels (according to Ballarin, see Literature).

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Literature: A. Ballarin, Jacopo Bassano, Scritti 1964-1995, Padua 1995, vol. 2, pp. 262-4, footnotes 1 and 2, reproduced vol. 1, fig. 116 (as by Jacopo and Leandro Bassano).

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Notes: This painting was conceived as part of a pair: its pendant, depicting Saint James the Greater standing between Saint Nicolas and another Saint (possibly Lawrence or Stephen), is in the Weisgall Collection, Sacramento, California (see Ballarin under Literature, reproduced fig. 115). The inscription on this picture is crucial both for dating the pair (to 7 June 1578 precisely) and for their attribution: it confirms Jacopo's authorship in collaboration with his son (presumably Leandro, since Francesco had already left his father's workshop by then). Though hard to believe that this is the work of two hands, it is an important testament to Jacopo's late style and to Leandro's beginnings in his father's workshop. The function of this work and its pendant is unclear. Their height indicates that they were probably too small to act as altarpieces but they are also too large and complete for bozzetti; indeed Ballarin appropriately describes them as palette (literally 'small altarpieces').