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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Everett Fahy for confirming the attribution, after inspecting the Arrest in the original; the second work is recorded by Kaftal (op. cit., column 204, 54A, nos. 4 and 5, fig. 223), whose image is here reproduced. The two works are presumably a part of a series that originally formed the predella of an altarpiece; one other panels from the series are known: that depicting The Martyrdom of Saint Blaise, recorded by Berenson as 'homeless' (Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London, 1968, I, p. 305, II, fig. 211, as 'Scene of martyrdom').
Saint Blaise is believed to have been bishop of Sebaste in Cappadocia under the reign of the Emperor Licinius (reg. 308-324). The story of his arrest by the regional prefect, Agricola, and his miracles (as well as his subsequent martyrdom) are recounted in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend: 'The prefect ... dispatched soldiers with orders to bring in the bishop and any Christians they found ... Then the soldiers arrived and said: "Come out, the prefect summons you!"... As he went along with them, [he] worked many wonders before their eyes. For instance, a woman, whose son was dying because a fish bone had stuck in his throat, laid the boy at the bishop's feet and tearfully begged him to cure her child. Saint Blaise laid his hands on him and prayed that this child ... should obtain the benefit of health. The boy was cured instantly. Another poor woman, a widow, possessed nothing but a single pig, and a wolf had violently made off with the pig. The woman implored Saint Blaise to get the pig back, and the saint smiled and said: "Good woman, don't be sad, your pig will be returned to you." within minutes the wolf came up and gave the pig back to the widow.'
Saint Blaise is believed to have been bishop of Sebaste in Cappadocia under the reign of the Emperor Licinius (reg. 308-324). The story of his arrest by the regional prefect, Agricola, and his miracles (as well as his subsequent martyrdom) are recounted in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend: 'The prefect ... dispatched soldiers with orders to bring in the bishop and any Christians they found ... Then the soldiers arrived and said: "Come out, the prefect summons you!"... As he went along with them, [he] worked many wonders before their eyes. For instance, a woman, whose son was dying because a fish bone had stuck in his throat, laid the boy at the bishop's feet and tearfully begged him to cure her child. Saint Blaise laid his hands on him and prayed that this child ... should obtain the benefit of health. The boy was cured instantly. Another poor woman, a widow, possessed nothing but a single pig, and a wolf had violently made off with the pig. The woman implored Saint Blaise to get the pig back, and the saint smiled and said: "Good woman, don't be sad, your pig will be returned to you." within minutes the wolf came up and gave the pig back to the widow.'