St Isidore

Base: 10 × 8 × 1.5
Žemaitija

This sculpture by a Samogitian religious carver portrays St Isidore, the patron saint of farmers, arable fields and crops. Isidore (1070–1130) was a Spanish saint, who worked for a landowner all his life, and was very pious and famous for his good deeds. The story goes that when the landowner saw Isidore and his wife praying instead of working, he was about to punish the man, but then he saw an angel ploughing the field instead of Isidore. This scene is rather common in religious art, but very rare in folk sculpture. There is a sculpture of the kneeling and praying St Isidore in the collection too, but it does not include the angel ploughing with oxen. The figure of Isidore sowing is common in folk sculpture, sometimes with the figure of an angel ploughing incorporated into the composition.

St Isidore was venerated in many countries as a patron saint of farmers. The representations of him reflect country people’s lives, their clothes, and their farm implements. In this sculpture, he looks like a barefoot Lithuanian peasant in a smock and rolled-up trousers, wearing a hat and with a bag of seeds in his hand.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė

Base: 10 × 8 × 1.5
Žemaitija

This sculpture by a Samogitian religious carver portrays St Isidore, the patron saint of farmers, arable fields and crops. Isidore (1070–1130) was a Spanish saint, who worked for a landowner all his life, and was very pious and famous for his good deeds. The story goes that when the landowner saw Isidore and his wife praying instead of working, he was about to punish the man, but then he saw an angel ploughing the field instead of Isidore. This scene is rather common in religious art, but very rare in folk sculpture. There is a sculpture of the kneeling and praying St Isidore in the collection too, but it does not include the angel ploughing with oxen. The figure of Isidore sowing is common in folk sculpture, sometimes with the figure of an angel ploughing incorporated into the composition.

St Isidore was venerated in many countries as a patron saint of farmers. The representations of him reflect country people’s lives, their clothes, and their farm implements. In this sculpture, he looks like a barefoot Lithuanian peasant in a smock and rolled-up trousers, wearing a hat and with a bag of seeds in his hand.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė