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Male Members of a Confraternity

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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Nine men kneel in prayer, heads bare, hats in hands. Behind them stands a saint – we can only see his hand – wearing a brown garment (perhaps the habit worn by members of a religious order). It is possibly Saint Francis, who founded the Franciscan Order, presenting the men to the object of their devotion.

These are the male members of a confraternity (a quasi-religious brotherhood) and the painting once formed part of the banner which the confraternity carried in processions. Another fragment, also in the National Gallery’s collection, shows the female members.

We don't know who the artist was, but the style of dress worn in both fragments was fashionable in about 1500. They were perhaps members of the confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, founded in Milan in 1475 under the oversight of the Franciscans.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Male Members of a Confraternity

Date

about 1500

Medium

Oil on silk or linen, mounted on wood

Measurements

H 64.5 x W 41.9 cm

Accession number

NG779

Acquisition method

Bought, 1867

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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