Kneeling Bishop with St. Stephen as Intercessor

This figure of a kneeling bishop would have been positioned in relation to a separate statue of the Madonna or of the Trinity. Behind him is his patron saint, Stephen, with a caring gaze and bearing. On the book in St. Stephen’s right hand are stones, a reference to his martyrdom. In his left hand he holds a palm branch: the reward for the sacrifice of his death and the emblem of victory. The group was probably installed in connection with a donation, such as a chapel. It originated in the courtly milieu around 1450, at the time of Charles VII and Louis XI of France, and attests to the new flowering of the arts in France following the end of the Hundred Years’ War with England.