Object data
walnut with polychromy and gilding
height 37.5 cm × width 12 cm × depth 7 cm
anonymous
St Michael
Mechelen, c. 1500
Inscriptions
- mark, on the reverse, branded: three pales (the Mechelen wood quality mark)
Technical notes
Carved and polychromed. The reverse is flat, with traces at the level of St Michael’s shoulder blades indicating where the separately carved (now lost) wings were mounted.
Scientific examination and reports
- condition report: A. Lorne (The Hague), RMA, December 1995
Literature scientific examination and reports
W. Godenne, ‘Préliminaires à l’inventaire général des statuettes d’origine malinoise, présumées des XVe et XVIe siècles’, Bulletin du Cercle Archéologique, Littéraire et Artistique de Malines 66 (1962), pp. 67-156, esp. pp. 137-38
Condition
The statuette has sustained woodworm damage, especially at the bottom. Missing are the wings, the left hand with shield, the right arm and hand with spear, and most of the dragon. The socle is also missing. An old restoration can be discerned on the reverse, where the wings were formerly attached. The polychromy has been overpainted.
Provenance
…; from the collection A.P. Hermans-Smits (1822-1897), Eindhoven, with numerous other objects (BK-NM-2001 to -2800), fl. 14,000 for all, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885; on loan to the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst, Uden, 2005-12
Object number: BK-NM-2490
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
The iconography of this charming, but fairly battered statuette of St Michael and the Dragon is derived from a passage in the Book of Revelation (12:7-9): ‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon […] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil […]’. In accordance with late medieval tradition, the archangel appears as a knight dressed in full armour. Michael stands poised to kill the devil, who lies at his feet in the form of a dragon. With his raised right arm (most of which is now missing), he once wielded his mighty spear; in his other hand, he held his shield. Michael’s wings (also lost) previously distinguished him from the other saintly dragon killer, St George.
The figure’s amiable appearance and the scarcely formidable dragon, biting the archangel almost playfully in the leg, are characteristics typical of figures produced in Mechelen in vast quantities, particularly during the years circa 1500-30. Known as poupées de Malines (Mechelen dolls), these statuettes are easily recognized by their simplified, youthful faces with almond-shaped eyes and bulbous cheeks. More often than not, these figurines are furnished with one or more Mechelen quality marks. The Amsterdam statuette bears the mark with three pales, guaranteeing the quality of its wood. As can be expected of this Mechelen production, the piece is carved from walnut.1 Here the socle is missing. In general, however, the pedestals on which these figures stood were made in oak.
This specific piece belongs to a group of St Michael statuettes derived from the same prototype with only minor variations and dating from around 1500.2 Five of the statuettes share the same height of approximately 37.5 centimetres, with the Louvre piece (fig. a) measuring six to seven centimetres shorter. The Amsterdam Michael is somewhat more slender in proportion to the rest. Of the seven currently known works, the Michael in the Louvre is best preserved. Like the Aachen Michael, this figure still stands on its original, oak-carved socle. On the reverse of the Louvre piece, one again finds the Mechelen quality mark for wood. Noteworthy, however, is that the socle bears the mark BRVESEL, referring to the city of Brussels, where the application of polychromy – the final stage in the production process – must have taken place.3 Collaboration between the two woodcarving centres is known to have occurred with some frequency (cf. BK-1958-40). The Brussels mark on the Louvre figure nevertheless strengthened Williamson’s belief that these Mechelen St Michaels were specifically manufactured for Brussels, where the archangel was venerated as the city’s patron saint.4
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
Literature
R.L. Wyss, ‘Eine Mechelner Kleiplastik im Bernischen Historischen Museum’, Jahrbuch des Bernischen Historischen Museums 51-52 (1971-72), p. 204; R.L. Wyss, ‘Der heilige Sebastian’, Bericht über die Tätigkeit der Eidgenössischen Kommission der Gottfried-Keller-Stiftung 1969 bis 1972, Bern 1973, p. 76; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 166, with earlier literature; S. Guillot de Suduiraut, Sculptures brabançonnes du Musée du Louvre: Bruxelles, Malines, Anvers, XVe-XVIe siècles, coll. cat. Paris (Musée du Louvre) 2001, p. 109; D. Preising and M. Rief, Niederländische Skulpturen von 1130 bis 1600, coll. cat. Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2017, p. 85
Citation
B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, St Michael, Mechelen, c. 1500', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24446
(accessed 23 September 2024 05:15:20).