Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian with their Three Brothers, part of an altarpiece
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Caption
Northern French. Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian with their Three Brothers, part of an altarpiece, 1480s or 1490s. Oil on panel, 36 3/8 × 27 in. (92.4 × 68.6 cm) frame: 48 1/2 × 37 1/4 × 5 in. (123.2 × 94.6 × 12.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the executors of the Estate of Colonel Michael Friedsam, 32.840. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Artist
Title
Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian with their Three Brothers, part of an altarpiece
Date
1480s or 1490s
Geography
Place made: France
Medium
Oil on panel
Classification
Dimensions
36 3/8 × 27 in. (92.4 × 68.6 cm) frame: 48 1/2 × 37 1/4 × 5 in. (123.2 × 94.6 × 12.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the executors of the Estate of Colonel Michael Friedsam
Accession Number
32.840
Frequent Art Questions
Why is there no blood on the sword? There is a freshly severed head on the ground!
Yes, there a many beheading scenes in the history of art! Especially from this time period. I really love how different the executioner looks from the saints. The saints are painted much softer than he is.He looks more weathered or rugged than the others?Yes, I agree, I love how the painter is telling us about the characters through their facial features.What are the golden circles on their heads?
Those are representations of halos indicating that the figures being put to the sword are saints. They are also the only part of the painting, other than the detail on the saint's brocade, created using gilding. Beginning in the mid-1450s, halos gradually began to be represented more three-dimensionally but by the High Renaissance (in the mid-1500s) they became unfashionable, usually reduced to a nimbus (a semi-transparent halo).
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