Object data
oak with remnants of polychromy and gilding
height 82.5 cm × width 27 cm × depth 24.8 cm
anonymous
Holy Priest
Utrecht, c. 1500 - c. 1520
Technical notes
Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is flat.
Condition
Worm-eaten and decayed. The right hand, parts of the left hand and the book are missing.
Conservation
- E.H. Baaij, 1905: impregnated with animal glue.
- conservator unknown, 1961: animal glue residue from earlier restoration removed; cleaned; impregnated.
Provenance
...; found in the Oude Kerk, Soest, with several other objects (BK-NM-12006-1 to -19), 1905;1 donated by the municipality of Soest to the museum, 1907; on loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, since 1909
Object number: BK-NM-12006-7
Copyright: Public domain
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 items found was this figure of a standing priest. He wears a surplice and amice, with a loose chasuble over them. An early suggestion that the priest could be identified as St Stephen is unfounded.4 Stephen was a deacon and would have worn the Dalmatic vestment appropriate to his office, not a chasuble as is the case here. There is also no trace of stones, St Stephen’s standard martyr’s attribute. The more recent suggestion of connecting the figure with the religious Guild of St Anthony of the parish of Soest and identifying it as one of the St Anthonys (St Anthony Abbot or St Anthony of Padua)5 is likewise not reflected in the iconography. None of the items in their extensive arsenal of attributes is present, nor do the priest’s appearance, hairstyle and clothes correspond with either of them. The identity of the figure consequently remains unclear.
The figure is blocky and rather stiff. It was probably made in the sculpture centre of Utrecht, near Soest. On the basis of the round toes of the shoes and the curve of the chasuble, the statue can be dated around 1500-20.6 Leeuwenberg attributed a fragment of a Holy Pope (BK-NM-12006-2), also found in Soest, to the same hand.7 Despite the damage to that statue, it is still evident that the characteristic faces of the two figures are indeed very alike. Both have large, deep-set, half-closed eyes with crow’s feet, deep creases in the skin from the nose to the corners of the mouth, and a wide mouth with a protruding lower lip. The amice worn by both men is wrapped around the neck in the same way.
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
Literature
J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 30, with earlier literature; A. de Rijk, ‘Laat-middeleeuwse heiligenbeelden uit het Gooi’, Bulletin Stichting Oude Hollandse Kerken 39 (1994), pp. 15-24, esp. p. 22; B. Nederveen, Soest, tussen Amersfoort en Utrecht. Een studie naar de herkomst van de laatgotische sculptuur uit de Hervormde Kerk te Soest, Amsterdam 1999 (unpub. thesis University of Amsterdam), pp. 16, 96-97; J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, no. 115; J.H.M. Hilhorst and J.G.M. Hilhorst, Soest, Hees en De Birkt. Van de achtste tot de zeventiende eeuw, Hilversum 2001, p. 258
Citation
B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Holy Priest, Utrecht, c. 1500 - c. 1520', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24296
(accessed 16 November 2024 06:33:12).