The Virgin and Child with St Anne

Entry

Restoration work in the tower of the Oude Kerk in Soest in 1905 uncovered in a bricked-up area an important treasure trove of statues, albeit in a deplorable condition.² It is assumed that the figures were hidden there either in 1566 at the outbreak of the Iconoclasm or in December 1580, when Calvinists in the Eemland region endeavoured to destroy every last remnant of religious art.³

Among the figures found was one of the Virgin and Child with St Anne (St Anne Trinity), badly damaged by damp and vermin. St Anne is shown with the cap and chin-band appropriate for a woman of her age. She sits on a large chair. This would usually have had a high back, but if it was ever there it is missing now. According to the iconography, she would have had an open book on her lap. Her daughter Mary sits at her feet on a bench with the infant Christ on her knee. His naked torso is all that has survived. The figure was probably part of the confraternity altar erected by the Guild of St Anne in the church in Soest.⁴

Although she only appears in the apocryphal gospels, in the fifteenth century Anne became one of the best known and most loved saints.⁵ As Christ’s grandmother, she was allotted a special role as a divine intercessor. In the Low Countries and the Rhineland, Anne worship assumed significant proportions. The image of St Anne Trinity was extremely popular in the Low Countries, where the iconography is known as St. Anna-te-Drieën and is sometimes interpreted as the earthly Trinity (Trinitas Terrestris), in contrast to the divine Trinity (Trinitas Caelestis). After the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563, however, the title of earthly Trinity was increasingly reserved for the Holy Family – Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Despite the very poor condition of the statue, Vogelsang noticed as soon as it was found that the Virgin’s features were very similar to those of a standing Virgin and Child, also found in the church in Soest, but better preserved (BK-NM-20006-1).⁶ He described the analogous treatment of the lower lip, the corners of the mouth and the eyes of the two Virgins. To this can be added the observation that they have the same oval face, with half-closed eyes, broad nostrils and wide-springing hair flowing beside the temples and over the shoulders in thick tresses. The women wear similar dresses with round necks and flat collars. On the basis of these parallels the figures can be attributed to the same workshop.

The youthful faces of the two Virgins and the elegant pose of the standing Virgin and Child are akin to fifteenth-century examples from the city of Utrecht,⁷ the most important centre of sculpture in the Bishopric of Utrecht, of which the town of Soest was also a part. Specifically, they are related to a group of Utrecht statues that are dated to around 1500 and regarded as quite conservative (see also BK-NM-11769).⁸ This group includes two carvings of the Virgin and Child with St Anne in Museum Catharijneconvent, which are constructed almost identically to the Soest example.⁹ The folds of their garments, on the other hand, are more fluid and complex. This suggests that the two figures from Soest were made somewhat earlier, around 1490 – a supposition supported by the tight bodices, the women’s round, rather than square, necklines, and the straight fluted folds of Mary’s underdress in the standing Virgin and Child.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024