The patron saints of the leather workers

The sculptures on both sides of the triptych depict the common patron saints of the leather curriers and cobblers: Crispinus and Crispinianus. St Bartholomew was the patron saint of the whiteners, St John that of the tanners.

The guild medal which the craftsmen had to produce at meetings sometimes depicted the patron saint. The front of whitener Hendricus Delanck's medal (1750) depicts St Bartholomew.

 

The back of a painting by Pieter Pourbus from the 16th century shows Crispinus and Crispinianus as leather workers. With a scraper or shave on a wooden tan block a hide is being scraped. In the background are three hides hung to dry on wooden racks.
The two saints were brothers and came from a prominent Roman family. During emperor Diocletianus' rule (AD 285-305) they were forced to flee on account of their religious conviction. Both brothers found themselves in Soissons (France) where they became cobblers. As such they worked for free for the poor. Since the brothers continued in their religious dedication and did not wish to renounce their Christian faith, they were tortured. After failed attempts to drown them weighted with millstones in the River Aisne they were ultimately beheaded.

 

The left-hand sculpture in the exhibit comes from the St Petruskerk in Maastricht, the other from the St Martinuskerk in Gronsveld. Although both statues now look like bishops with their mitres and crooks added later, originally they would have depicted the above brothers.
This can be deduced from remnants of an inscription 'CRISP... VS' on the robe of the left-hand figure, which makes identification as St Crispinus or St Crispianus likely. The saint probably held a millstone in his right hand or a boot and a cobbler's tool in his left hand. Based on the signature 'IAN' and the maker's mark on the front of the plinth it may be ascribed to the woodcarver Jan van Steffeswert, who worked in Maastricht in the first quarter of the 16th century. The figure to the right-hand side of the diorama, which does not bear a signature, is also ascribed to the same artist for stylistic reasons. On account of size and attire this may be seen as the counterpart of the other statue. It is believed that both figures originally came from the altar of the cobblers guild in the minster of the Augustinian monks at Maastricht. Sometime during the 17th or 18th century the identity of the two brothers was changed into that of bishops. Both statues become separated towards the end of the 18th century after discontinuance of the monastic order. On the occasion of the exhibit 'Feet in earth' St Crispinus and St Crispinianus have been temporarily reunited after two centuries of separation.