Object data
walnut with remnants of polychromy and gilding and a rhinestone
height 92 cm × width c. 26 cm × depth c. 18 cm
Master of Koudewater,
St Catherine of Alexandria
Northern Brabant, c. 1470
Technical notes
Carved and originally polychromed. The foremost part of the head, which consists of a separate piece of wood, is attached. The hem of Catherine’s gown, the pendant of her necklace and the rosettes on her diadem were originally decorated with inset ornamental stones, of which one rhinestone is still present on the underside of the left sleeve. The reverse is slightly worked. The reverse and the head were partly hollowed out in order to accommodate several preserved relics, consisting of a bronze pin, some flax and two small parcels with splinters of bones, one of which is wrapped in blue linen, tied up with a white ribbon on which S. Bernard is painted in red. The other parcel contains a piece of paper inscribed with the name Sca Monicha (?). Microscopic examination has revealed that the fibres found in these relic cavities consist almost entirely of flax. Only a few woollen fibres were found.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: Vezelinstituut TNO (Delft), 18 August 1949
Condition
Some woodworm damage. Catherine’s crown, and the ornamental stones in the rosettes on her headdress, pendant and the hem of her gown are missing, apart from one rhinestone on the underside of her left sleeve. A vertical crack on the front of the statue runs from the hips downwards. The polychromy is largely missing, but the paint layers on the face have mostly been preserved. The reverse bears remnants of a chalk layer and red paint with an ornament. The hair bears traces of gilding.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1949: the thick modern ground and overpainting have been removed; the modern pedestal and modern plank covering the cavity in the reverse have been removed; the relics found in the cavity of the head and the reverse have been put back into the head.
Provenance
? Commissioned by the Bridgettine abbey Mariënwater, Koudewater, near Rosmalen, c. 1470;1 or commissioned by the Bridgettine abbey of Marienbaum, near Xanten, c. 1470;2 ? transferred to the Bridgettine convent Maria Refugie, Uden, resp. 1713-24 or 1802;3 ? from where, with numerous other sculptures (BK-NM-1195 to -1243), fl. 2,000 for all, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; ? transferred to the museum, 1885; first recorded in the museum in 1949;4 on loan to the Museum Krona (formerly known as the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst), Uden, inv. no. 1762, since 1997
Object number: BK-18069
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Master of Koudewater (active in northern Brabant c. 1460-80)
The name of convenience ‘Master of Koudewater’ was introduced by Leeuwenberg in 1958 to define the production of a sculptor active in the period 1460-80, whose oeuvre chiefly comprises carved wooden statues of saints formerly originating from two Bridgettine abbeys. The first one, Mariënwater, was located in the northern Brabantine village of Koudewater. In 1460, this ‘mother abbey’ founded a second abbey in the vicinity of Cleves, called Marienbaum. When evicted from their abbey in 1713, the Bridgettine nuns at Mariënwater moved to a convent in the vicinity of Uden, together with all of their possessions. In 1802, when the abbey at Marienbaum was dissolved, a portion of its inventory was likewise transferred to Uden. Facing financial difficulty, the Bridgettine nuns at Uden were ultimately forced to sell off the bulk of their art holdings. In 1875, a large number of saintly statues carved by the Master of Koudewater and followers of his style were subsequently acquired en bloc by the Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, a forerunner of the Rijksmuseum.
There are strong indications that the Master of Koudewater produced statues for both Mariënwater and Marienbaum. Collectively, these works – together with other similar figures produced in the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant – are today known as the ‘Koudewater Group’. The Rijksmuseum holds sixteen of the Koudewater statues in its collection. Based on the shared static but elegant poses, calm facial expressions, and matching drapery schemes characterized by deeply cut folds, however, only six of these works can be securely attributed to the master himself. The remaining ten are likely to have been produced by workshop assistants, pupils or followers of the master’s style.
The centre of the Master of Koudewater’s activity was initially thought to be in the Lower Rhine region. When acknowledging the documented provenance of the works and the stylistic similarity to Brabantine sculpture, however, the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant emerges as the most likely area of production. Attempts have been made to link the master’s carving to the flourishing artistic climate in Den Bosch and even to a documented woodcarver active there, Jan Jansz van Gheervliet.5 Nevertheless, nothing in the Master of Koudewater’s oeuvre suggests a knowledge of the artistic innovation occurring in this northern Brabantine city. On the contrary, it appears he led a rather solitary life. His artistic origin must therefore be sought in monastic surroundings in or near Mariënwater.
Marie Mundigler, 2024
References
G.C.M. van Dijck, ‘De meester van Coudewater opgespoord? Een interessante theorie’, Bossche bladen 3 (2001), pp. 75-77; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, pp. 86-94; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij: Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, pp. 61-64; J. Leeuwenberg in R. van Luttervelt et al., Middeleeuwse kunst der Noordelijke Nederlanden, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1958, pp. 192-93; G. Lemmens and G. de Werd, Beelden uit Brabant: Laatgotische kunst uit het oude hertogdom 1400-1520, exh. cat. Den Bosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1971, pp. 17-26; J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, n. 84; W. Vogelsang, De oude kerkelijke kunst in Nederland: Gedenkboek van de Nationale Tentoonstelling te ’s-Hertogenbosch in 1913, Den Bosch 1914, p. 98
Entry
St Catherine of Alexandria stands triumphantly on her persecutor, Emperor Maxentius, recognizable by his imperial crown. In her hands, which are now missing, the Christian martyr probably originally held a sword and a book, as well as a wheel, her instrument of torture and special attribute. She is dressed in a long gown that was once decorated with ornamental stones on the hem and the sleeves. There is still one old rhinestone, which is probably original, on the underside of the left sleeve. A rosary with a tassel hangs from her belt. Around her shoulders she wears a three-stringed pearl necklace with a diamond-shaped pendant. On her head Catherine wears a diadem with sculptured pearls as well as rosettes which used to be decorated with real inset stones. It is likely that she originally wore a crown as well. Emperor Maxentius lies nearly prostrate on the base, supporting his head with one hand while resting his other hand on the sheath of his sword. The statue still has much of its original polychromy and gilding.
The acquisition of this statue is not documented. It was first recorded only in 1949, on the occasion of its restoration. At that time it was covered with thick, modern ground, to which bright colours and gold leaf had been applied, with bright blue precious stones along the hem of the gown (fig. a). After the removal of these nineteenth-century additions, an exceptionally beautiful walnut statue appeared, in which the curator, Leeuwenberg, recognized the hand of a woodcarver to whom he would later give the name of convenience ‘Master of Koudewater’. Moreover, the cavities in the statue’s reverse and head were found to contain a couple of parcels holding splinters of bones and inscribed with the names S. Bernard and Sca Monicha (?), as well as a bronze pin and some flax (fig. b). These relics were subsequently replaced in the head cavity.
The Master of Koudewater owes his name of convenience to the fact that most of his statues of saints come from the abbey of Mariënwater in Koudewater, which was dissolved in 1713.6 In 1875 the museum acquired these three core pieces by the master – together with a large number stylistically related statues of saints – from the immediate successor to this abbey, the convent of Maria Refugie in Uden. It is highly likely that the present St Catherine also belonged to this group.
There are strong indications that the Master of Koudewater has also carved several statues for Marienbaum, an abbey in the vicinity of Cleves that was founded in 1460 by the mother abbey of the Bridgettines in Koudewater. Some of the devotional works of art owned by this abbey, which was dissolved in 1802, also found their way to Uden,7 which explains the overrepresentation of certain saints by the hand of the Master of Koudewater in Uden in the nineteenth century. Van Liebergen made the interesting suggestion that the three core pieces, among others, could possibly be traced back to the Lower Rhine abbey of Marienbaum.8 This institution was, in fact, under the direct influence of the court at Cleves, which might explain the distinctly majestic character of this group. As regards the statue of St Catherine that belongs to the core pieces (BK-NM-1196), this theory seems to be supported by the noble insignia of the Order of St Anthony hanging on her chain, which represents, in all likelihood, the Cleves version of the insignia.9
Lemmens and De Werd completely support Leeuwenberg’s attribution of the present St Catherine to the Master of Koudewater, although they do point out that, in comparison with his principal works, the details are somewhat less finely executed and her pose is slightly less compact.10 A related statue of St Catherine that also originated in the workshop of the Master of Koudewater and is probably datable to around a decade later on the basis of the drapery is now to be found in the Museum Grand Curtius in Liège (fig. c).11 Here, too, the pendant on Catherine’s necklace is that of the Cleves Order of St Anthony,12 which again indicates the existence of a connection between the Master of Koudewater and the abbey of Marienbaum in Cleves.13
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
Literature
E.L.L. de Wilde, Onze beeldhouwkunst der late middeleeuwen, exh. cat. Eindhoven (Stedelijk van Abbemuseum) and elsewhere 1953-54, no. 2; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 58, with earlier literature; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Birgitta van Zweden 1303-1373. 600 jaar kunst en cultuur van haar kloosterorde, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1986, p. 90; A.M. Koldeweij (ed.), In Buscoducis 1450-1629. Kunst uit de Bourgondische tijd te ’s-Hertogenbosch. De cultuur van de late middeleeuwen en renaissance, exh. cat. Den Bosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1990, no. 98; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen et al., Sanctus, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1997, p. 67; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij. Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, no. 8
Citation
B. van der Mark, 2024, 'Meester van Koudewater or , St Catherine of Alexandria, Northern Brabant, c. 1470', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24331
(accessed 26 November 2024 10:50:16).