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A King touching for the King's Evil, stained glass panel, Netherlandish, dated 1611
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A King touching for the King's Evil, stained glass panel, Netherlandish, dated 1611
Clear glass with brown paint, yellow stain and red, blue and purple enamels
Height: 635mm
Width: 406mm
Width: 406mm
Museum number: SG81
Curatorial note
This larger panel is composed of three horizontal sections. Seen in profile on the left is a young king in ermine robes at the entrance to a pillared hall. Behind him are a soldier with a pike and three bearded courtiers. The king extends his right arm to touch the head of a kneeling man – he is the first in a long line of men, women and children which stretches away through an archway, bearing the date 1611, into the countryside beyond. Although this scene is often associated with Louis IX of France (Saint Louis), the king's robes do not bear the customary fleur-de-lys.
In the second day of an auction of stained glass at Christie’s held on June 17 in 1808, a ‘Watson’ (perhaps William Watson, acting as Soane’s agent?) is recorded as having bought Lot 30, ‘St Louis touching for the Evil, in a beautiful border’, for £9-9-0.
In the second day of an auction of stained glass at Christie’s held on June 17 in 1808, a ‘Watson’ (perhaps William Watson, acting as Soane’s agent?) is recorded as having bought Lot 30, ‘St Louis touching for the Evil, in a beautiful border’, for £9-9-0.
Literature
Journal of the British Society of Master Glass Painters (1948): 181
Catalogue of the Stained Glass in Sir John Soane's Museum, Special Issue of the Journal of Stained Glass 2004, p 214
Catalogue of the Stained Glass in Sir John Soane's Museum, Special Issue of the Journal of Stained Glass 2004, p 214
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk