SAINT SILVINO DE THEROUANNE

Description:

Southern France, mid 16th century
50 x 31 cm
Marble relief of the Saint with basket attributes. In the background a representation of the Saint carrying the basket filled with stones in front of a town silhouette. Larger loss on the upper left, restored. Minor blemishes, remnants of gilding.
From a South German private colletion, assembled between 1955 and 1980.
Silvinus was a noble boy at the court of the Kings of Neustria, Childerich II. and Theuderic III. in Toulouse. Then he became a monk; The legend reports that as an exercise of penance he made a pilgrimage to the seven pilgrimage churches in Rome with a basket full of stones on his back and only put the basket down in front of the portal of St. Peter's Cathedral. He also went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Then he evangelized as a bishop based in Auchy in the area around Thérouanne (lit. Saint Lexicon, online)