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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
C.L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture 1280-1800: The Harvard Collections, Cambridge, 1965, p. 68, no. 24, pl. XXXII.
J. Leeuwenberg and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum - Catalogus, Amsterdam, 1973, p. 100, no. 83.
John. W. Steyaert, Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, Ghent, 1994.
This large and impressive figure of the Virgin was included in an exhibition of medieval sculpture in America in 1968 (Calkins, op. cit.), where it was catalogued as 'Province of Brabant, Brussels (?), last quarter 15th century'. Further research since that exhibition suggests that the figure is, in fact, part of a small but significant group of works which are influenced both by the Master of Hakendover, a sculptor working in Brussels circa 1400-1420, and by Flemish panel painters such as Robert Campin (d. 1444) and Rogier van der Weyden (d. 1464).
Stylistically, the figure can be compared to a relief of the Agony in the Garden in the Rijksmuseum which is catalogued by Leeuwenberg as being from the early 16th century (loc. cit.), but which Steyaert, in his entry in the Grove Dictionary of Art on the Master of Hakendover, attributes to this master's workshop. Another even closer figure is a kneeling Virgin from a relief of the Nativity which Steyaert attributes to Brussels circa 1420-25, noting in particular the influence of the late style of the Master of Hakendover (Steyaert, op. cit., p. 146, no. 22). All three pieces exhibit the same domed head, the long straight folds of the cloak which gather at the bottom, and air of introspection.
C.L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture 1280-1800: The Harvard Collections, Cambridge, 1965, p. 68, no. 24, pl. XXXII.
J. Leeuwenberg and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum - Catalogus, Amsterdam, 1973, p. 100, no. 83.
John. W. Steyaert, Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, Ghent, 1994.
This large and impressive figure of the Virgin was included in an exhibition of medieval sculpture in America in 1968 (Calkins, op. cit.), where it was catalogued as 'Province of Brabant, Brussels (?), last quarter 15th century'. Further research since that exhibition suggests that the figure is, in fact, part of a small but significant group of works which are influenced both by the Master of Hakendover, a sculptor working in Brussels circa 1400-1420, and by Flemish panel painters such as Robert Campin (d. 1444) and Rogier van der Weyden (d. 1464).
Stylistically, the figure can be compared to a relief of the Agony in the Garden in the Rijksmuseum which is catalogued by Leeuwenberg as being from the early 16th century (loc. cit.), but which Steyaert, in his entry in the Grove Dictionary of Art on the Master of Hakendover, attributes to this master's workshop. Another even closer figure is a kneeling Virgin from a relief of the Nativity which Steyaert attributes to Brussels circa 1420-25, noting in particular the influence of the late style of the Master of Hakendover (Steyaert, op. cit., p. 146, no. 22). All three pieces exhibit the same domed head, the long straight folds of the cloak which gather at the bottom, and air of introspection.