St Christopher

Entry

St Christopher carries the Christ Child on his back to the opposite side of a raging river. In his left hand, the child holds the imperial apple; with his right hand (now missing), he would have made a sign of benediction in accordance with the iconographic tradition. Christopher the giant was the patron saint of travellers. For this reason, a monumental statue of the saint – some measuring up to three metres high – was often placed near the entrance, where exiting worshippers could pray for a safe journey home.¹ At 51 centimetres, the present statue is substantially smaller. Unlike the majority of its monumental equivalents, it is carved entirely in the round. It perhaps once formed the crownpiece surmounting the highest point of a retable, towering out as a freestanding work resting on a socle.² Another possibility is that the group stood on a small corbel placed above the exit way, offering protection to those leaving the church, in the same manner as the larger variants.³

While clearly displaying a mix of Brabantine and Lower Rhenish influences, the Amsterdam Christopher’s overall style fails to warrant a more precise localization. Godenne linked the group to a number of Christophers whose provenance is decidedly Mechelen. With the exception of the much larger, oak wall statue from the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe-Gasthuis in Mechelen (now preserved at the Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen), dated circa 1490-1510, all of the works in this group are small-scale, walnut-carved devotional figures dating from the early sixteenth century.⁴ Notable parallels encountered in these figures are the zig-zag composition, Christopher’s clothing and his somewhat thick-set body, the latter expressed in the detail of the jacket’s buttons, where the fabric stretches out over a bulging stomach. Nevertheless, the mannerist disposition of Christopher’s left elbow, which protrudes unnaturally forward, is a notable deviation from its Mechelen equivalents, which invariably depict Christopher clasping the child’s foot in his left hand. Accordingly, Godenne qualified his comparison by describing the Amsterdam Christopher as a work ‘of Mechelen inspiration but from a neighbouring school’.⁵

While Leeuwenberg also viewed Mechelen as the most probable origin, the disparate positioning of the Amsterdam Christopher’s left arm likewise caused him some concern.⁶ He observed a comparable placement of the arm – likely modelled after a woodcut from 1506-08 by the Antwerp engraver Jobst de Negker (c. 1485-1548) – on two sculptures then considered examples of Antwerp production.⁷ One of the two works, located in the Sint-Laurentiuskerk in Bocholt (Belgian Limburg), is now attributed to a follower of the Maastricht sculptor Jan van Steffeswert (before 1465-after 1531), who was also possibly influenced by Lower Rhenish sculpture.⁸ Although the Antwerp provenance of the second work, preserved in the city’s Museum Vleeshuis, still holds today, the mannerist disposition of the arm fails to convince as a characteristic unique to that city.

In addition to the differences cited above, the faces of both Christopher and the Christ Child also lack the amiable features of the poupée carvings, characterized by their almond-shaped eyes. Leeuwenberg pointed out the striking resemblance between the child’s head and that of the Christ Child on a Brussels Christopher in Toronto, in which case the giant has the same distinctive positioning of the arm.⁹ Nevertheless, closer parallels for the facial types of both the Christ Child and Christopher are found in the region of the Lower Rhine. Examples for comparison include the head of the Christ Child from Henrik Douverman’s (c. 1490-1543/44) carving of a Virgin from circa 1510-15 in the Rijksmuseum (BK-BR-534) and that of the child on a Christopher in Kranenburg, a work by his successor, Arnt van Tricht (active c. 1530-d. 1570), that dates from around 1550-60. Both possess the same domed forehead, full-round face and a mischievous smile as encountered on the Amsterdam Christ Child. Furthermore, Christopher’s sunken cheeks, sharp nose, hanging moustache, short beard, and half-length, curly hair are details similar to those found on a number of the male figures in Van Tricht’s oeuvre.¹⁰ Parallels in Lower Rhenish sculpture also exist for Christopher’s compact corporeal form and the jacket pulling at the buttons, as can be observed on another Christopher in the Rijksmuseum collection (BK-NM-11175), likely a work from this region.¹¹

Bieke van der Mark, 2024