St James

Entry

Over the last few decades it has become clear that there must have been a not inconsiderable output of small-scale sculpture – finely carved figures and reliefs in boxwood or ivory – in the Netherlands and adjoining regions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Although the magnitude and distribution of this genre have gone largely unstudied, it is clear that the work is of a generally high standard and can hold its own with what was being made in this field in France or Southern Germany.³ Prayer nuts and similar micro-carvings are among the best-known works in this genre. A few boxwood figurines have meanwhile been convincingly attributed – among them a Samson Fighting the Lion from the Upper Guelders school of the Master(s) of Elsloo,⁴ and a Virgin and Child by the Maastricht woodcarver Jan van Steffeswert ((c. 1470-after 1525)⁵ and a St Mary Magdalene (?) in the Bonnefantenmuseum signed by the same sculptor.⁶ The absence of scholarly interest and sound attributions to the Low Countries have meant that Dutch museums have not so far collected early examples of small figures like this.

This tiny, minutely carved figure of the apostle James is one of the earliest examples of this output. At first glance, it looks quite static and expressionless, but further examination reveals the presence of a sophisticated contrapposto. The carver gave the pilgrim saint – identified by his hat and cloak with scallop shells sewn to them – a twist to the body, created by his diagonal movement on the little base. He steps diagonally towards the right corner of the base with his proper right foot, while his other foot is placed in the left rear corner and also denotes movement. At the same time James’s upper body and head are turned to the left. His long, loose cloak hangs down from his shoulder over his right arm, creating a complex pattern of folds. The pilgrim’s cloak he wears beneath it, partly exposed on his left shoulder, has a shoulder cape to which scallop shells have been attached. There are two more scallop shells on the hat hanging down his back. A cylindrical bag, probably a travelling case for cutlery, hangs among the vertical folds of the cloak. The book the saint holds and through which he leafs identifies him as an apostle, so James is depicted here both as a pilgrim saint and a follower of Jesus. Two holes on the underside suggest that the little figure once had a base or could be mounted on some object, for instance a processional staff.⁷

In its form, this little figure follows fairly literally the compositional framework and style of large statues in oak, particularly from the Lower Rhine region. It is therefore very likely that it was made in this area – around Cleves, Kalkar and Xanten – in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The type of base on which this St James stands, square with bevelled corners, is found in many figures from this region. The vertical organisation of the folds is another Lower Rhenish style characteristic. They are usually interrupted by a flat plane caused by the outstretched leg, with the foot extended over the edge of the base. These style characteristics are frequently found in the work of the woodcarvers Dries Holthuys (active c. 1480-1510),⁸ Henrik Douverman (c. 1490-1543/44) and Henrick van Holt (c. 1480/90-1545/46).⁹ The movement motif with the legs crossed and placed diagonally are found in a John the Baptist by Douverman in Kalkar, a St Christopher by Dries Holthuys in Emmerich and an anonymous St Roch from the Lower Rhine.¹⁰

The most striking similarities, however, are found in the work of an anonymous Lower Rhine artist of the late fifteenth century, to whom Defoer gave the name of convenience Master of St Anthony, after a statue of St Anthony Abbot in Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht.¹¹ Characteristic of his style, aside from the more general Lower Rhenish traits referred to above, are the sharp definition of the cheekbones, the grooves above the base of the nose and the waves in the beard and hair. These characteristics, which are also found in a figure of St Joseph (fig. a) attributed to the same master,¹² as well as in the St Anthony Abbot, appear in the much smaller St James.

Frits Scholten, 2024