Kneeling Virgin, from of a Nativity

Entry

This praying Virgin once belonged to a retable group of the Nativity, as her kneeling pose, uncovered hair and the direction of her gaze indicate. This iconography can be traced back to the revelations of St Bridget of Sweden (c. 1302-1373). From the time of its dissemination, the saint’s vision of Christ’s birth has exercised a tremendous influence on medieval depictions of the Nativity.¹ Bridget’s Revelaciones described how Mary removed her veil just prior to giving birth, allowing her golden hair to fall upon her shoulders. Upon kneeling to pray, she then promptly gave birth to the Christ Child, who entered the world encircled by a light so bright the flame outshined Joseph’s candle. On the basis of this narration, the Virgin is typically depicted in a kneeling position, with her hair uncovered, hanging loosely over the shoulders. The Christ Child lies before her, sometimes on the train of her mantle. Joseph stands or kneels in their vicinity, either praying in adoration or holding a candle.

The square-cut neckline of Mary’s overgarment suggests an origin in the early decades of the sixteenth century. The fragment wavers stylistically somewhere between the sculptural traditions of Antwerp and Brussels, thus hindering a more precise localization in Brabant. The piece displays some similarity to a number of Marian retables bearing Brussels quality marks, attributed to the large Borman family workshop, among them two surviving altarpieces in Sweden: at Strängnäs, dated circa 1500-10, and at Skepptuna, dated circa 1515-20.² The locks of hair in these works fall in the same manner over the Virgins’ shoulders. Also similar is the play of the garment folds, generously draped over the ground and decoratively finished, though in the case of the Amsterdam Virgin, these are more sharply defined and slightly more erratic. Another deviation from other examples of ‘Bormanesque’ carving concerns the facial type, having a more pointed form and lacking the sweet expression. In consideration of the face and the style of the drapery folds, the present fragment is more consistent with renderings of the same scene as they appear in a number of retables marked with the Antwerp hand. Examples are the Passion retable in Hulshout from circa 1500-10, and the Marian retable of circa 1500-20 in Tongeren.³

Bieke van der Mark, 2024