Saint Barbara

Inscriptions

Not signed.

Label

One of the most popular saints of the medieval period, Saint Barbara was worshipped throughout Europe as a model of piety. This statue was likely made for a church in eastern France. According to her legend, Barbara was locked in a tower after she refused to marry the non-Christian husband chosen by her father. In many depictions of the saint, including this one, Barbara holds a miniature tower to reference her punishment. With its three windows, which echo the division of the book she holds, this tower may suggest the Trinity, or the tripartite aspect of God.

From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

ARTH 33, Gothic Art and Architecture, Jane Carroll, Spring 2014

ARTH 33, Gothic Art and Architecture, Jane Carroll, Spring 2014

FRIT 34, Sex and Gender in the Italian Renaissance, Courtney Quaintance, Spring 2015

ITAL 7, Women in Renaissance Venice, Courtney Quaintance, Spring 2015

ARTH 15.1, Gothic Art, Jane Carroll, Spring 2019

HIST 96.39, Saints and Material Devotion, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Fall 2021

HIST 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Fall 2021

ARTH 27.02, Living Stone: Sculpture in Early Modern Italy, Elizabeth Kassler-Taub, Winter 2022

FREN 22, Medieval and Renaissance French Literature, Andrea Tarnowski, Spring 2022

Art History 17.06, The Arts of the Middle Ages, Nick Camerlenghi, Fall 2023

Music 42.01, Early Classical Music, Richard Beaudoin, Fall 2023

History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024

History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024

Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Critical Faculties: Teaching with the Hood's Collections, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 15-March 13, 2005.

European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30, 2008-March 8, 2009.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 20-August 15, 2006.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 19, 2001-July 28, 2002.

Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.

Publication History

Dorothy Gillerman, Gothic Sculpture in America, I. The New England Museums, New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1989, p 344-345.

T. Barton Thurber, "European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art", Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2008, pp. 33, ill., no. 4.

Provenance

Philip Kassebaum and Edward A. Hansen; given to present collection, 1981.

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