The Gathering of Manna

Entry

This panel is said to have been transferred from the Heilig Kruiskerk (Sint-Catharinakerk) to the Sint-Janskathedraal – both in Den Bosch – in 1812. Set in a hilly landscape, the scene contains numerous men and women presented in an almost symmetrical composition with right and left classical buildings and monuments. Depicted here are various episodes from the Book of Exodus. The rain of manna appears left; right, the collection of the manna, overseen by Moses who stands left centre holding the two stone tablets (Exodus 16:14-15); with his staff he points towards the sky, from where the manna falls down to earth in discs. In the background, the dance around the golden calf can be seen in the middle (Exodus 32). The manna signifies the Old Testament prefiguration of the Eucharistic bread, the host. Together with comparable scenes such as Abraham and Melchizedek, or Elijah in the Desert, appearing for example on Dieric Bouts’ Last Supper altarpiece in Leuven, this theme referred to the Eucharist.

The relief’s style is characterized by the great liveliness of the figures themselves and the folds of the classical garments they wear. The variation in the stances of the muscled bodies reflects the sculptor’s familiarity with the renaissance repertoire of poses, which made its way to the north from Italy. This is most evident in the standing, twisted figure at the composition’s centre, but also the two figures in the right foreground. This dynamic style suggests the involvement of a sculptor intimately familiar with the antyckse style from the Southern Netherlands. A certain stylistic connection to some examples of Mechelen alabaster sculpture could point to the Southern Netherlandish origin of the relief’s maker, but there are also remarkable stylistic similarities to the Southern Netherlandish antycksnyder Jan Terwen (1511-1589), who worked in Dordrecht in the late 1530’s. Models for this specific scene are unknown, opening the possibility that this work is a composition of the sculptor’s own conception. Supporting this premise is the fact that the figure of Moses is certain to have been adopted from another scene: his pose with elevated staff actually comes from the episode of the water struck from the rocks (Exodus 17) (cf. RP-P-OB-7399). The original gilding on the surface suggests that this piece was meant to be an imitation of (more costly) works cast in gilt bronze.

Sharing the same overall composition as the present relief is a panel depicting the Gathering of Manna on one of the partitioning walls separating the choir and ambulatory of the Sint-Janskathedraal in Den Bosch (fig. a). This representation belongs to a narrative series, likewise including Abraham and Melchizedek, that likely originally formed part of the sedilia of 1567, but which was subsequently reused for the partitioning walls of the choir newly built in 1839.³. The panels in the Sint-Janskathedraal are not only larger (33 x 103 cm) but also differ in a number of aspects. It seems plausible that the Amsterdam manna relief also originally formed part of a similar series of panels on a (no longer surviving) sedilia or choir screen of the Heilig Kruiskerk. Implausible, however, is Pit’s supposition that the relief belonged to the series in the Sint-Janskathedraal.⁴ Nevertheless, the compositional and in some aspects stylistic agreement between the two manna reliefs, along with the shared provenance of Den Bosch, indeed suggest that both works were produced simultaneously, perhaps even in the same workshop. A number of the sculptors involved in the renovation of the interior of the Sint-Janskathedraal during the years 1567 to 1570 due to damage arising from the Iconoclasm are known by name, including Cornelis Bloemaert I (c. 1525-1593) from Dordrecht and Gorcum,⁵ Anthony van Helmont from Antwerp, and Adriaan Schalcken with his sons Jan and Cornelis Schalcken .⁶ Peeters cited the schrijnwerker (cabinet maker) Jan Schalcken as the possible carver of the panels from the same cathedral’s choir.⁷ Schalcken was one of the most important wood workers in Den Bosch and the head of a large workshop.

Koldeweij, however, attributed these panels to the antycksnyder Cornelis Bloemaert on the argument that he emerges in the archives as the most prominent and best-remunerated woodcarver in these years.⁸ Bloemaert’s documented works include the restoration of the choir stalls, organ cabinet and probably the baldachin of the pulpit in the Sint-Janskathedraal. He also furnished the wooden casting models for the columns of a chapel screen and was charged with the task of repairing damaged sculptural work on the Den Bosch city gates. Upon completing his works in the city, Bloemaert first moved to Utrecht in 1576 and subsequently to Amsterdam in 1591, where he was appointed municipal architect. The young Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621) obtained his training in Bloemaert’s Utrecht atelier, before following his former teacher to Amsterdam himself.

If indeed Koldeweij’s attribution of the panels in the Sint-Janskathedraal proves founded, one may also ascribe the present panel to Bloemaert and his workshop. The previously noted stylistic agreement between the Den Bosch reliefs and the work of Jan Terwen, the woodcarver responsible for the choir stalls of circa 1538-40 in the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht further supports this attribution, with both sculptors natives of the same city.⁹

Frits Scholten, 2024