St Christopher

Carved and finished in the round. Dendrochronological analysis has pointed out that the outermost growth ring in the wood dates to the year 1498. Due to the absence of sapwood it is not possible to give a more specific estimate felling date of the tree than ‘after 1506’. The timber originates from the Lower Rhine area.

The upper section of the tree trunk and a segment of Christopher’s cloak in the vicinity of the Christ Child’s legs are missing. At some point the child’s head has broken off at the base of the neck and been subsequently reattached. A hole in the base on the right may have been used to attach a now missing element, though it could also be related to a nail that has been removed.

…; from an anonymous owner, fl. 280, to the museum, through the mediation of W.B.G. Molkenboer (1844-1915), 1898

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-11175

In accordance with convention, this towering figure of St Christopher carries the Christ Child on his back to the other side of a rapidly flowing river. The child grasps a lock of the saint’s hair with his left hand, while making the sign of the benediction with the other. The sculpture has been carved in the round and is highly detailed. According to the legend of St Christopher, the Christ Child bore the great weight of the sins of the world and was therefore extremely heavy to carry. This narrative detail is conveyed in Christopher’s hunched back and the bending tree trunk that supports him.

In the absence of directly comparable works, a determination of origin based on stylistic grounds is somewhat problematic. Previous authors have either proposed the Northern Netherlands or the Lower Rhine region as plausible regions of production.¹¹A. Pit, Catalogus van de beeldhouwwerken in het Nederlandsch Museum voor geschiedenis en kunst te Amsterdam, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1904, no. 70 (as ‘Northern Netherlands’); W. Vogelsang and M. van Notten, Die Holzskulptur in den Niederlanden, vol. 2, Das Niederländische Museum zu Amsterdam, Berlin/Utrecht 1912, no. 28 (as ‘Lower Rhine region’); A. Pit, Catalogus van de beeldhouwwerken in het Nederlandsch Museum voor geschiedenis en kunst te Amsterdam, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1915, no. 152 (as ‘Lower Rhine region’); J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 84 (as ‘Northern Netherlands’). The sculpture’s dynamic pose, achieved through the almost unnatural crossing of the giant’s legs and the S-curve of the overall composition, is nevertheless far more reminiscent of Lower Rhenish production, as are the angular folds of Christopher’s cloak, particularly where a sharp point hangs from his right arm.²²For these characteristics, compare two sculptures by Henrik Douverman, his St Andrew of c. 1500-05 in the Sankt-Mariä-Empfängnis (Unterstadtkirche) in Cleves, and his St Christopher of c. 1521-30 in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, inv. no. ABM bh251, see B. Rommé et al., Gegen den Strom: Meisterwerke niederrheinischer Skulptur in Zeiten der Reformation 1500-1550, exh. cat. Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 1996, no. 10 and M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 300-03, respectively. A number of parallels for the heads of the child and his bearer, which display amiable features encountered more commonly in the Northern Netherlands and winding curls in their hair, are also known to have been produced in the Lower Rhine region, including the St Joseph and the Christ Child of circa 1500 attributed to Dries Holthuys (active c. 1480-c. 1510).³³R. Karrenbrock et al., Dries Holthuys: Ein Meister des Mittelalters aus Kleve (Schriftenreihe Museum Kurhaus Kleve: Ewald Mataré-Sammlung, 16), exh. cat. Cleves (Museum Kurhaus Kleve) 2002, no. 11. Stylized waves with pierced undercutting are also encountered in a St Christopher of circa 1525 assigned to the Northern or eastern Netherlands and today preserved in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht,⁴⁴Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, inv. no. BMH bh168b, see M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 153-54. as well as a later St Christopher of circa 1550-60 by the sculptor Arnt van Tricht (active c. 1530-d. 1570). When considered collectively, the above findings currently point to the Lower Rhine as the most probable region of production for the Amsterdam sculpture.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 84, with earlier literature

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, St Christopher, Lower Rhine region, c. 1510 - c. 1525', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24359