The Bowes Museum Displays Intriguing Painting that was Part of Altarpiece
COUNTY DURHAM, UK – One of the oldest and most
intriguing paintings in The Bowes Museum’s collection is the focal point of a
new display which opened this Saturday, 23 January. The small panel, A Miracle
of the Sacrament by Sassetta, painted in Siena c1423-25, has a
dramatic tale to tell. It shows a cleric, struck dead as he is offered the Host
during Mass. Even more dramatically, a devil swoops down to snatch his
soul as it leaves his body. Amazingly, the panel that alludes to the death of
John Wycliffe, from Teesdale, is the very painting that ultimately ended up in
the collection of The Bowes Museum – and now its true meaning can be explained.