Putto, Supporting Figure from the Pulpit in the Sint-Pauluskerk in Antwerp

Entry

This monumental putto comes from the Sint-Pauluskerk in Antwerp, where it originally functioned as a supporting figure on the early-baroque pulpit dismantled in 1874.³ As can be seen in a photo of the church’s interior taken around 1870, the barrel of this pulpit was upheld by the present statue, itself located adjacent to the steps, together with three additional putti (fig. a).⁴ Numerous other fragments from this pulpit are today stored in the repository of this former Dominican church: two of the four putti supporting the barrel (fig. b),⁵ four dolphins, and the two angels that once supported the sounding board (fig. c). In 1998, the barrel’s eight panels, adorned with cherubim (fig. d), escutcheons and figures of saintly Dominican monks – all carved in high relief – were integrated in the church’s new crossing altar.⁶ The two herms flanking the stairway, representing the Old and New Testament, were stolen from the rectory around 1993 and are today known only through photos (fig. e).⁷

The earliest depiction of the pulpit is found in Pieter Neefs’s The Interior of the Dominican Church (the Sint-Pauluskerk), Antwerp, Looking East, with the Procession of the Holy Sacrament, dated 1636 (SK-A-288). Accordingly, the pulpit was completed in or prior to this year, making it one of the first examples of a pulpit supported by sculpted figures as opposed to a non-figural support.⁸ It therefore marks the onset of the baroque evolution of the pulpit in the Southern Netherlands, which ultimately culminated in a furniture piece composed entirely of sculpture, with individual structural elements integrated in such a manner that they become scarcely discernible.⁹

The pulpit is attributed to the antycksnijder (woodcarver in the modern renaissance style) Erasmus I Quellinus (?1584-1640), one of the sculptors Rubens engaged after returning from Rome to realise his designs for the interior furnishings of various churches in the Southern Netherlands.¹⁰ Only two documented works by this Quellinus survive to the present today: a pulpit in the Sint-Elisabethgasthuis in Antwerp,¹¹ from 1635, and a second pulpit in the Sint-Gummaruskerk in Lier, for which he was solely responsible for the design.¹² Work on the latter pulpit was undertaken posthumously, in 1640-42, by his son-in-law, Pieter I Verbruggen (1610-1686), under the supervision of Erasmus’s son, the famous sculptor Artus I Quellinus (1609-1668), who had assumed charge of the family workshop.¹³ In style, composition and decorative idiom, the dismantled pulpit from the Sint-Pauluskerk, which was produced in the Quellinus workshop under Erasmus when Verbruggen was among his assistants, closely resembles the pulpit in Lier. Numerous parallels can be discerned, especially in the elements adorning the barrel. Even more similar to the Sint-Pauluskerk pulpit, however, is a design for an unknown pulpit attributed to Erasmus himself, which also features a barrel supported by four monumental-scale angels and putti in corresponding poses.¹⁴ One might interpret this drawing as a preparatory design for the pulpit in the Sint-Pauluskerk, were it not for the ‘IHS’ monogram on the barrel, implying it initially could only have been intended for a Jesuit church. One plausible candidate is the pulpit in the Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk, the former Jesuit church of Antwerp. This pulpit was destroyed in a fire but is passed down by a detailed description from 1627/28 and several paintings of the church’s interior.¹⁵ It is likewise believed to have been designed by Quellinus and was also supported by four, albeit mature angels. It appears the sculptor eventually applied the concept of the supporting toddler-like angels and putti to the pulpit in the Sint-Pauluskerk.

At least two hands were involved in the carving of the old pulpit in the Sint-Pauluskerk, a conclusion most evident when comparing the present figure to the two other surviving putti. Not only does the Amsterdam putto differ from its counterparts in terms of noticeable details such as the nude upper torso, the positioning of the arms and the cushion on his shoulder, clear differences can also be observed in the execution of the hair and face. Like the cherubim from the barrel (fig. d), the Amsterdam putto’s head has crude, pierced curls versus the dense, wavy hair of the others. Similarly, his mischievous, idealized face lacks the proclivity for naturalism evident in the other two putti. Possibly carved by Erasmus Quellinus himself, or Verbruggen when he was still an assistant, the Amsterdam putto has an overtly plump corporeal form and facial type similar to that of the marble Christ Child crowning the altar of the Holy Sacrament in the Sint-Pauluskerk, a documented work by Verbruggen from 1654-56,¹⁶ and three wooden reliefs of standing putti – allegorical representations of the three theological virtues – attributed to him.¹⁷ In the decades that ensued Pieter Verbruggen, as an important member of the Quellinus family workshop, would be entrusted with the execution of numerous other richly decorated church furnishings such as confessionals, altars and choir stalls, among them many for the same Sint-Pauluskerk.¹⁸

Bieke van der Mark, 2021