Saint Wilgefortis Triptych

For a long time this crucified woman was catalogued as Julia of Corsica, a martyr put to death for refusing to worship pagan gods. Then the recent restoration, carried out in Venice, uncovered a faint down on her face, and the museum now names her Wilgefortis, a martyr venerated in Flanders around Bosch's time. Her legend is a strange one. A heathen father promised her to a foreign king, she prayed to be made unmarriageable, woke with a beard, and was crucified for it. In Italy she became Liberata, in England Uncumber, and unhappy wives prayed to her to be freed of their husbands. The legend's cast is gathered at the foot of the cross, where the richly dressed young man who has collapsed backwards is read as her rejected bridegroom. Infrared images show that each wing once held a large kneeling donor, both of them later painted over.