Object data
oak
height 105 cm × width 39.5 cm × depth 27 cm × height 109.5 cm (incl. modern crown) × width 28.5 cm × depth 18.3 cm (base)
Master of Joachim and Anne
Virgin and Child
? Northwest Brabant, c. 1470
Technical notes
Carved and originally polychromed. According to dendrochronological research the felling of the tree has been estimated to have occurred ‘after 1391’; because of the absence of xylem it is not possible to give a more accurate felling date. The wood likely originates from the Twente/Westphalia area in the northeast of the Netherlands/northwest of Germany.
Scientific examination and reports
- dendrochronology: M. Domínguez Delmás (DendroResearch), RMA, DR_R2023149, 19 December 2023
Condition
Possible additional carving after the removal of the polychromy in the 19th century. The original crown is missing. The present crown is a replacement, probably made by the Cuypers workshop in Roermond.1
Provenance
…; unknown church, province of North Brabant, before 1906;2 …; collection of Johannes (‘Jan’) Stuyt (1868-1934), The Hague, before 1906-34;3 his spouse Jeanne Louise Stuyt-Barozzi (1873-1956), The Hague, 1934-56; …; collection of Professor Alexander Marie Stuyt (1911-2007) and Maria Theresia Josephine Stuyt-Schmutzer (1921-2013), Beek, near Nijmegen, 1956-2007; from whom, as a ‘promised gift’ in lieu of inheritance tax, to the museum, 1994 (pending transfer); from whom on loan to the museum, 2007-14; donated to the museum by the Stuyt-Schmutzer heirs in lieu of inheritance tax, 2014;4
Object number: BK-2016-13
Credit line: Gift of Mr and Mrs Stuyt-Schmutzer
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Master of Joachim and Anne (active in ? Breda c. 1460-80)
It was Vogelsang who in 1906 assigned a name of convenience to works attributed to the Master of Joachim and Anne based on his best-known surviving work, entitled the Meeting of Joachim and Anne (BK-NM-88). At this time, this altar group was stylistically linked to a Birth of the Virgin in the Bode-Museum in Berlin, believed most likely to have originated from the same altarpiece,5 and to a large standing statue of the Virgin and Child formerly in the Stuyt Collection (BK-2016-13). The latter two works are dated circa 1470. Since their first publication in 1865, the Master of Joachim and Anne has been regarded as one of the leading representatives of the late-Gothic ‘Holland School’ of sculpture. On the basis of his highly personal, restrained style and the intimate character of his works – associated with the style of the Haarlem painter Dieric Bouts (1410-1475) – the master was situated in the Northern Netherlands and specifically in the County of Holland or the city of Utrecht. In light of stylistic similarities to Brabantine sculpture and the west-Brabantine provenance of some of his works – most notably the large standing Virgin and Child and the group in Berlin – it appears more likely that he worked in the Duchy of Brabant, possibly in or near Breda. Two other works tentatively attributed to the master’s oeuvre are said to have come from churches in Breda, namely a Virgin and Child in a Bed and a Christ Carrying the Cross.6 Another hypothesis raised is that the Master of Joachim and Anne spent time as a journeyman in southern Germany, notably in Ulm, though this theory has gained no general support.
Based on more generic stylistic parallels to the core group of works, two other sculptures in the Rijksmuseum have previously been attributed to the Master of Joachim and Anne: a Virgin and Child with St Anne (BK-NM-8974) and a Lamentation (BK-NM-12389). With respect to the latter group, however, convincing arguments have been posed in favour of an attribution to Master Tilman (active c. 1475-1515) in Cologne.
Marie Mundigler, 2024
References
D.P.R.A. Bouvy, Middeleeuwsche beeldhouwkunst in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, Amsterdam 1947, p. 79; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, pp. 74-77; J. Leeuwenberg in R. van Luttervelt et al., Middeleeuwse kunst der Noordelijke Nederlanden, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1958, pp. 190-92; A. Schneckenburger-Broschek, ‘Ein Niederländer als schwäbisches Genie. Neues zum Ulmer Chorgestühl’, Zeitschrift des deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft 40 (1986), 1-4, pp. 40-68; J.J.M. Timmers, Houten beelden: De houtsculptuur in de Noordelijke Nederlanden tijdens de late middeleeuwen, Amsterdam/Antwerp 1949, p. 59; W. Vogelsang, ‘De Nederlandsche beeldhouwkunst’, Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandschrift 31 (1906), pp. 366-80
Entry
The Master of Joachim and Anne is indisputably one of the most important and most individualistic woodcarvers in the Northern Netherlands of the late Middle Ages. His name is derived from the intimate retable group of the Meeting of Joachim and Anne – the parents of the Virgin Mary – which has been in the Rijksmuseum since 1875 (BK-NM-88). Although this anonymous woodcarver over time has been credited with a number of other works, only a few have been able to withstand critical scrutiny: a Birth of the Virgin in the Bode-Museum in Berlin,7 a Virgin and Child with St Anne in the former collection of Baron van den Bogaerde at Heeswijk Castle,8 and this monumental Virgin and Child. To date it is the largest known work by this artist.
Vogelsang saw the Master of Joachim and Anne as a typical representative of the Northern Netherlandish school of sculpture which he described as having ‘spiritual depth’, ‘the profundity of expressions in gesture and facial expression’, and ‘concentration’.9 The authentic works by the Master of Joachim and Anne do indeed share a certain reticence and intimacy that can also be seen in this monumental Virgin and Child. It is as if the viewer is witness to a personal moment between a mother and child who believe themselves to be unobserved. In part on the basis of this ‘spiritualized’ and ‘internalized’ style, and on the introverted and sober character of the figures, Vogelsang placed the woodcarver in the Northern Netherlandish school, active in the county of Holland or the city of Utrecht. He compared his style with that of the Haarlem painter Dieric Bouts (c. 1420/20-1475).
Despite this supposedly Hollandish character of his work, it appears that he should rather be located in northwest Brabant. Among other indications is the provenance of this Virgin, which according to family tradition came from an unspecified North Brabant church from which the statue was acquired before 1906 by the eminent Roman Catholic architect Jan Stuyt (1868-1934). In the period before 1906 – when Vogelsang published the piece as a work in his possession – Stuyt was involved as an architect in building works on churches in five Brabant towns: Alphen (1899-1900, restoration and extension Sint-Willibrorduskerk), Steenbergen (1900-03, new building Sint-Gummaruskerk), Ginneken (1900, new building Sint-Laurentiuskerk), Leende (1902-05, restoration Sint-Petrus’-Bandenkerk) and Breda (1903, new building Sint-Annakerk). It seems evident that the Virgin comes from one of these churches and the predominance of the western part of the province (Ginneken, Steenbergen and Breda) is striking.10 The sculpture from Baron van den Bogaerde’s collection probably also has a Brabant provenance, while a Breda provenance is certain in the case of two of the other works that have clear stylistic points in common with the work of the Master of Joachim and Anne: a large Christ Carrying the Cross in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk and a small relief of Mary (?) nursing her baby in bed.11 There are also stylistic parallels with the bronze pleurants (weepers) for the tomb of Isabella of Bourbon, which come from Brabant (cf. BK-AM-33).
A few decades ago, it was suggested that the Master of Joachim and Anne was also responsible for the figurative carving on the famous choir stalls in Ulm. This would mean that the woodcarver must have worked for some time as a Wanderkünstler – an itinerant artist – in Southern Germany before 1474, when the choir stalls were finished.12 Although this attribution has meanwhile been rejected as understanding has evolved,13 it is illustrative of the far-reaching stylistic influence Netherlandish sculpture had in the late Middle Ages.
Frits Scholten, 2024
Literature
W. Vogelsang, ‘De Nederlandsche beeldhouwkunst’, Elsevier’s geïllustreerd maandschrift 31 (Jan-June 1906), pp. 366-80, esp. pp. 367-69; W. Vogelsang, Die Holzskulptur in den Niederlanden, vol. 2, Utrecht 1912, no. 6; Katholieke illustratie 53 (1919) 37 (cover ill.); Oude kunst uit Haagsch bezit, exh. cat. The Hague (Gemeentemuseum) 1936, no. 210; D.P.R.A. Bouvy, Middeleeuwsche beeldhouwkunst in de Noordelijke Nederlanden, Amsterdam 1947, pp. 79-80, fig. 84; J.J.M. Timmers, Houten beelden: De houtsculptuur in de Noordelijke Nederlanden tijdens de late Middeleeuwen, Amsterdam/Antwerp 1949, pp. 59-60; E.L.L. de Wilde, Onze beeldhouwkunst der late Middeleeuwen, exh. cat. Eindhoven (Stedelijk van Abbemuseum) 1953-54, no. 65; R R. van Luttervelt et al., Middeleeuwse kunst der Noordelijke Nederlanden, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1958, nos. 268-271, esp. no. 270; E.-R. Meijer, ‘L’art du Moyen Age dans les Pays-Bas septentrionaux’, Le jardin des arts 56 (1959), pp. 494-507; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 74; A. Schneckenburger-Broschek, ‘Ein Niederländer als schwäbisches Genie. Neues zum Ulmer Chorgestühl’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstgeschichte 40 (1986), pp. 40-68; H. van Os et al., Netherlandish art in the Rijksmuseum 1400-1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2000, p. 62, fig. 8b; A. Miller, ‘Das Ulmer Chorgestühl und Michel Erhart’, in Michel Ehrhart und Jörg Syrlin d. Ä. Spätgotik in Ulm, Ulm (Ulmer Museum) 2002, pp. 44-53, esp. p. 47; F. Scholten, ‘Recent Acquisitions (2004-09) of Sculpture at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam’, The Burlington Magazine 151 (2009), p. 808, no. 3; J. Goudeau and A. van der Linden (eds.), Jan Stuyt 1868-1934. Een begenadigd en dienend architect, Nijmegen 2011; F. Scholten, ‘Acquisitions: Medieval Sculpture from the Goldschmidt-Pol Collection and from Other Donors’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59 (2011), pp. 415-35, esp. pp. 418-19; F. Scholten (ed.), 1100-1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2015, no. 22
Citation
F. Scholten, 2024, 'Meester van Joachim en Anna, Virgin and Child, Northwest 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.442925
(accessed 10 November 2024 00:36:38).