Carved and polychromed. The reverse is roughly chiselled and hollowed out.

Badly worm-eaten and decayed so that much of the surface and the polychromy has been lost, with the exception of the Virgin’s face, part of the robes and the infant Christ’s torso.

…; found in the Oude Kerk, Soest, with several other objects (BK-NM-12006-1 to -19), 1905;¹¹W. Vogelsang, ‘Vondst te Soest’, Bulletin van de Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 4 (1905), pp. 187-96, pp. 190-91; J. Kalf, ‘Een belangrijke vondst’, Het huis, oud en nieuw. Maandelijks prentenboek gewijd aan huis, inrichting, bouw- en sierkunst 3 (1905), pp. 289-301. donated by the municipality of Soest to the museum, 1907; on loan to the Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, 1909-80

Object number: BK-NM-12006-10

Restoration work in the tower of the Oude Kerk in Soest in 1905 uncovered in a bricked-up area an important treasure trove of statues, albeit in a deplorable condition.²²These objects have been donated to the Rijksmuseum in 1907, see inv. nos. BK-NM-12006-1 to -19. It is assumed that the figures were hidden there either in 1566 at the outbreak of the Iconoclasm or in December 1580, when Calvinists in the Eemland region endeavoured to destroy every last remnant of religious art.³³K. Broekhuijsen-Kruijer, ‘Het Passieretabel uit Soest’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 32 (1984), pp. 3-16, esp. p. 3.

Among the figures found was one of the Virgin and Child with St Anne (St Anne Trinity), badly damaged by damp and vermin. St Anne is shown with the cap and chin-band appropriate for a woman of her age. She sits on a large chair. This would usually have had a high back, but if it was ever there it is missing now. According to the iconography, she would have had an open book on her lap. Her daughter Mary sits at her feet on a bench with the infant Christ on her knee. His naked torso is all that has survived. The figure was probably part of the confraternity altar erected by the Guild of St Anne in the church in Soest.⁴⁴B. Nederveen, Soest, tussen Amersfoort en Utrecht. Een studie naar de herkomst van de laatgotische sculptuur uit de Hervormde Kerk te Soest, Amsterdam 1999 (unpub. thesis University of Amsterdam), p. 7; J.H.M. Hilhorst and J.G.M. Hilhorst, Soest, Hees en De Birkt. Van de achtste tot de zeventiende eeuw, Hilversum 2001, p. 259.

Although she only appears in the apocryphal gospels, in the fifteenth century Anne became one of the best known and most loved saints.⁵⁵For the veneration of St Anne in the Low Countries and surrounding areas, see T. Brandenburg et al., Heilige Anna, grote moeder. De cultus van de Heilige Moeder Anna en haar familie in de Nederlanden en aangrenzende streken, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1992; for the Anne cult throughout Europe, see V. Nixon, Mary’s Mother: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Europe, University Park 2004. As Christ’s grandmother, she was allotted a special role as a divine intercessor. In the Low Countries and the Rhineland, Anne worship assumed significant proportions. The image of St Anne Trinity was extremely popular in the Low Countries, where the iconography is known as St. Anna-te-Drieën and is sometimes interpreted as the earthly Trinity (Trinitas Terrestris), in contrast to the divine Trinity (Trinitas Caelestis). After the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563, however, the title of earthly Trinity was increasingly reserved for the Holy Family – Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Despite the very poor condition of the statue, Vogelsang noticed as soon as it was found that the Virgin’s features were very similar to those of a standing Virgin and Child, also found in the church in Soest, but better preserved (BK-NM-20006-1).⁶⁶W. Vogelsang, ‘Vondst te Soest’, Bulletin van de Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 4 (1905), pp. 187-96, esp. pp. 190-91. He described the analogous treatment of the lower lip, the corners of the mouth and the eyes of the two Virgins. To this can be added the observation that they have the same oval face, with half-closed eyes, broad nostrils and wide-springing hair flowing beside the temples and over the shoulders in thick tresses. The women wear similar dresses with round necks and flat collars. On the basis of these parallels the figures can be attributed to the same workshop.

The youthful faces of the two Virgins and the elegant pose of the standing Virgin and Child are akin to fifteenth-century examples from the city of Utrecht,⁷⁷Inv. nos. ABM bh337, ABM bh295, ABM bs603a and ABM bs603b in the collection of Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, are comparable, for instance. See M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, c. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 187-88, 213, 219-20. the most important centre of sculpture in the Bishopric of Utrecht, of which the town of Soest was also a part. Specifically, they are related to a group of Utrecht statues that are dated to around 1500 and regarded as quite conservative (see also BK-NM-11769).⁸⁸See M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 264 and nos. 43-46. This group includes two carvings of the Virgin and Child with St Anne in Museum Catharijneconvent, which are constructed almost identically to the Soest example.⁹⁹Inv. nos. ABM bh340 and ABM bh339, see M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, c. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 225-26; M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 263, no. 45 (image on the right). The folds of their garments, on the other hand, are more fluid and complex. This suggests that the two figures from Soest were made somewhat earlier, around 1490 – a supposition supported by the tight bodices, the women’s round, rather than square, necklines, and the straight fluted folds of Mary’s underdress in the standing Virgin and Child.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 21, with earlier literature; A. de Rijk, ‘Laat-middeleeuwse heiligenbeelden uit het Gooi’, Bulletin Stichting Oude Hollandse Kerken 39 (1994), pp. 15-24, esp. p. 22; B. Nederveen, Soest, tussen Amersfoort en Utrecht. Een studie naar de herkomst van de laatgotische sculptuur uit de Hervormde Kerk te Soest, Amsterdam 1999 (unpub. thesis University of Amsterdam), pp. 10-11, 91-92; E. van der Weijden, ‘Behouden voor het land’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 53 (2005), pp. 300-15, esp. p. 302; J.H.M. Hilhorst and J.G.M. Hilhorst, Soest, Hees en De Birkt. Van de achtste tot de zeventiende eeuw, Hilversum 2001, p. 259

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, The Virgin and Child with St Anne, Utrecht, c. 1480 - c. 1490', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200115805