Object data
oak with remnants of polychromy and gilding
height 75.5 cm × width 29.5 cm × depth 21 cm
anonymous
Virgin and Child
Utrecht, c. 1490
Technical notes
Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is flat and slightly worked. There is a large mortise on the underside. Remnants of blue polychromy and gilding have been found on the robe.
Condition
Worm-eaten and decayed. The Virgin’s left hand and parts of her head and hair are missing, as are the infant Christ’s hands, right leg and head. In 1905, circular gold decorations (‘compasses’) could still be seen against a blue background on the hem of the Virgin’s robe.
Conservation
- E.H. Baaij, 1905: impregnated with animal glue.
- conservator unknown, 1961: general conservation.
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, 1909-61
Object number: BK-NM-12006-1
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 figures was the present standing Virgin and Child and a Virgin and Child with St Anne (BK-NM-12006-10). Despite the very poor condition of the statues, Vogelsang noticed as soon as they were found that the features of the Virgins in both figures were very similar.4
He described the analogous treatment of the lower lip, the corners of the mouth and the eyes of the two Virgins. To this can be added the observation that they have the same oval face, with half-closed eyes, broad nostrils and wide-springing hair flowing beside the temples and over the shoulders in thick tresses. The women wear similar dresses with round necks and flat collars. On the basis of these parallels the figures can be attributed to the same workshop.
The youthful faces of the two Virgins and the elegant pose of the standing Virgin and Child are akin to fifteenth-century examples from the city of Utrecht,5 the most important centre of sculpture in the Bishopric of Utrecht, of which the town of Soest was also a part. Specifically, they are related to a group of Utrecht statues that are dated to around 1500 and regarded as quite conservative (see also BK-NM-11769).6 This group includes two carvings of the Virgin and Child with St Anne in Museum Catharijneconvent, which are constructed almost identically to the Soest example.7 The folds of their garments, on the other hand, are more fluid and complex. This suggests that the two figures from Soest were made somewhat earlier, around 1490 – a supposition supported by the tight bodices, the women’s round, rather than square, necklines, and the straight fluted folds of Mary’s underdress in the standing Virgin and Child.
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
Literature
J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 22, 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. 9-10, 91-92; J.H.M. Hilhorst and J.G.M. Hilhorst, Soest, Hees en De Birkt. Van de achtste tot de zeventiende eeuw, Hilversum 2001, p. 239
Citation
B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Virgin and Child, Utrecht, c. 1490', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24280
(accessed 23 November 2024 03:36:25).