A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

159 Kim Woods 7 158 7.4 b Although there is great uncertainty about the identification of the Audley End bishop and saint with Valerius and Vincentius, there is nothing inherently impossible about the very rare scene of the Miracle of the Skull being transmit- ted to the Low Countries. Charles V and his extensive entourage spent the best part of a year in Zaragoza in 1518, well within the dating parameters of this scene. All of his attendants would probably have seen the high altarpiece in the cathedral; many would probably have learned of the two local saints, Valero and Vicente; one may possibly have brought veneration of those two saints back to the Low Countries. If so, this Elsloo group sculptor conceivably enjoyed the patronage of a high-status client close to Charles V. Conclusion The area in which the Elsloo sculptors operated was no backwater, compared with the commercial centres of Antwerp and Brussels: Limburg and Guelders, with their important trade route along the River Meuse, were very much more important and well-connected than might be apparent today. The sculptors of these statues were evidently also well-connected. The Samson and the Lion may have been designed for a high-ranking knight of sufficient sophistication to have appreciated the very latest art form, the collector’s item in boxwood; the Liverpool Knight appears to be a secular, ancestor statue pointing to an aristocratic dynastic commission; the Audley End scene suggests a highly unu- sual bespoke commission possibly associated with a wealthy patron connected