St. James the Greater praying

In 1661 Rembrandt painted a group of about six apostles and evangelists as if they were portraits, all in the same year and at roughly the same size. When this canvas was cleaned, it showed remnants of a black border shared with four of its companions, and X-rays found peg holes in its corners. That suggests the canvas was once set into the wooden panelling of a room rather than hung in a frame, though whose room is unknown. James appears as a pilgrim, the saint whose shrine at Santiago de Compostela drew walkers from across Europe. A scallop shell fastens his cloak, his staff leans against the wall, and his broad-brimmed hat rests at his side. His eyes are closed, and his large, loosely joined hands sit at the centre of the picture. The heirs of the collector Stephen Clark, whose family fortune came from Singer sewing machines, sold it at Sotheby's in New York in 2007 for 25.8 million dollars to a buyer who stayed anonymous.