Apostle

Inscriptions

inscription, on the reverse, on a modern label:apostel / s 251

Technical notes

Carved and originally polychromed. There are mortises in the arms where the hands, carved separately, would have been attached. The reverse is flat.

Condition

There is some woodworm damage. The hands are missing. The polychromy is largely missing, but some red is still present on the outside of the cloak and the saint’s lips, and there is some blue on the inside of the cloak.

Provenance

...; from the dealer M.J. Schretlen, Amsterdam, fl. 1,800, to the museum, 1949

ObjectNumber: BK-16119

The artist

Biography

Master of Hakendover (active in Brussels c. 1395-1430)

This anonymous master was named after his most important work, the main altarpiece in the Goddelijke Zaligmakerkerk in Hakendover. Dedicated to the church’s miraculous founding – according to the legend the Lord himself had helped in the construction of the building – this altar retable dates from circa 1405. In 1978, many of its carved groups were stolen. The Master of Hakendover’s skill as a carver of narrative scenes is nevertheless well-documented in photographs.

Unfortunately, nothing is known about the Master of Hakendover’s identity. From circa 1400 onward, he is thought to have worked in Brussels, where the master is likely to have established a large and versatile workshop. As a sculptor, his origins have been subject to some debate. On the basis of stylistic similarities between the Hakendover sculptures and the Coronation group from the church of Saint-Jacques in Liège, Steyaert has proposed the Meuse region as his place of training, most likely in Liège. This theory, however, has received minimal support.¹W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, p. 148.

From 1399 to 1409, the Master of Hakendover was involved in the decoration of the Sint-Martinuskerk at Halle (Belgium), producing the stone wall tabernacle and a series of large stone statues of the apostles for the choir. Around 1415, he carved an altarpiece for the Sankt-Reinoldikirche in Dortmund. Likewise attributed to the master are a number of small apostle figures adorning a nineteenth-century pulpit in Dorking (England)²K.W. Woods, ‘Newly Discovered work in England by the Master of Hakendover’, Oud Holland 113 (1999), pp. 93-106. and five retable groups which are considered to be early works.³M. van Vlierden, ‘Enkele retabelfragmenten uit het atelier van de Meester van het retabel van Hakendover’, in C. van de Velde et al., Constructing Wooden Images, Brussels 2005, pp. 181-205.

The Master of Hakendover is a seminal figure, not only because he stands out as one of the leading sculptors active in the Duchy of Brabant in the early fifteenth century. His work also testifies to the development of sculpture in its transition from the elegant and courtly International Gothic style – i.e. in the tradition of the Franco-French sculptor André Beauneveu (active 1363-1403) from Valenciennes – to the more naturalistic idiom of the Brabantine Late Gothic style, with its greater eye for expressive narrative scenes and details such as broken drapery folds. This transition manifests itself most eloquently in two late works by the Master of Hakendover, the Amsterdam Repentance of St Peter (BK-2011-3) and the Praying Apostles in New York.⁴New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 16.32.214.

Marie Mundigler, 2024

References
R. Marijnissen and H. Van Liefferinge, ‘Les retables de Rheinberg et de Hakendover’, Jahrbuch der Rheinischen Denkmalpflege 27 (1967), pp. 75-92; D. Roggen, ‘Het retabel van Hakendover’, Gentse bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis 1 (1934), pp. 108-21; J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, pp. 67-70 and pp. 142-48; M. van Vlierden, ‘Enkele retabelfragmenten uit het atelier van de Meester van het retabel van Hakendover’, in C. van de Velde et al., Constructing Wooden Images: Proceedings of the Symposium on the Organization of Labour and Working Practices of Late Gothic Carved Altarpieces in the Low Countries, Brussels 25-26 October 2002, Brussels 2005, pp. 181-205; M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 86-89; K.W. Woods, ‘Newly Discovered work in England by the Master of Hakendover’, Oud Holland 113 (1999), pp. 93-106

Entry

The museum acquired this anonymous standing apostle from M.J. Schretlen in 1949. At that time this Amsterdam art dealer also had a St Paul (fig. a), which the former director of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Dirk Hannema, bought for his private collection soon afterwards.⁵Now in the collection of the Hannema-De Stuers Fundatie of Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle/Heino, see D. Hannema, Beschrijvende catalogus van de schilderijen, beeldhouwwerken, aquarellen en tekeningen, exh. cat. Zwolle/Heino (Stichting Hannema-De Stuers Fundatie/Kasteel ‘t Nijenhuis) 1967, no. 548. At the time of the sale, Schretlen claimed that the two figures were originally part of the celebrated Three Virgins Altarpiece in the Goddelijke Zaligmakerkerk in Hakendover (Belgium) dating from around 1405, along with two other apostles which were then in South America.⁶Verslagen omtrent ’s Rijks verzamelingen van geschiedenis en kunst (1949), p. 15. The current whereabouts of the latter two figures are unknown and there are no known images of them.

Although there was no question of four apostle figures being missing from the Hakendover Altarpiece in 1949,⁷At that time, only one Male Saint and the group with the Virgin from the Calvary and the Cross itself were missing, see L. van Eeckhoudt, Het Drie-maagdenretabel, Sint-Joris-Winge 1995, pp. 53, 73-76, 82; R. Maere, ‘Le Retable d’Haekendover’, Annales de l’Académie Royale d’Archéologie de Belgique 68 (1920), pp. 79-97, esp. p. 78; L. Ninane et al., Flanders in the 15th Century: Art and Civilization, exh. cat. Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 1960, p. 232; J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, p. 142. the association with this famous carved altarpiece is understandable. In the upper register, God the Father on his throne is flanked by twelve standing apostles who are similar in terms of size,⁸The apostle figures on the Hakendover Altar are slightly smaller, ranging from 36 to 39 cm tall. The statuettes in Amsterdam and Zwolle/Heino are 39.5 and 41 cm tall. character, pose and style of draperies. Leeuwenberg also saw a resemblance to the altar in the Sankt-Reinoldikirche in Dortmund, which is attributed to the same master and dated to around 1415-20.⁹J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 36. For the altarpiece in Dortmund, see J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, p. 68. On the other hand, the Amsterdam apostle differs from the figures on that altar in the less skilfully worked folds, the larger head, the beard that is not under carved and the wide open eyes, and from the figure in the former Hannema Collection, which in turn is also slightly differently worked.¹⁰Previously it was only the ex-Hannema apostle’s attribution to the workshop of the Master of Hakendover that was called into question, see D. Hyland and M. Stokstad (eds.), Catalogue of the Sculpture Collection, coll. cat. Lawrence, Kansas (Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art) 1981, p. 18. Geisler did not regard these differences in style and quality as any drawback to attributing the two apostles to the workshop of the Master of Hakendover.¹¹I. Geisler, ‘Studien zu niederländischen Bildhauern des ausgehenden 14. und frühen 15. Jahrhunderts’, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 18 (1956), pp. 143-58, esp. p. 148. Although a provenance in this large workshop cannot be ruled out – Steyaert was able to distinguish seven different hands in the Hakendover Altar alone¹²J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, p. 142. – it makes more sense to think in terms of one or more smaller workshops that worked in the Hakendover Master’s sphere of influence. The same is true of four walnut apostle figures in the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas.¹³Lawrence (KS), Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, inv. nos. 66.1 to 66.4, see D. Hyland and M. Stokstad (eds.), Catalogue of the Sculpture Collection, coll. cat. Lawrence (Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art) 1981, p. 18. Schrader placed these on the same altar as the four apostle figures in Amsterdam, Zwolle/Heino and South America,¹⁴J.L. Schrader, The Waning Middle Ages, exh. cat. Lawrence (The University of Kansas Museum of Art) 1969, nos. 54-55, pl. 11. but the superior quality and larger dimensions of the group in Kansas suggest otherwise.¹⁵The heights of the four statuettes ranges from 44 to 45.7 cm. According to Steyaert these four apostles were made in Liège around 1420-30 after Brussels examples.¹⁶J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, p. 270.

Summing up, the eight apostle figures in all likelihood came from three or four altarpieces made in as many workshops. Possibly in emulation of German examples,¹⁷For this type of altarpiece in Germany, see N. Wolf, ‘Überlegungen zur Entstehung, Funktion und Verbreitung der deutschen Schnitzretabel des 14. Jahrhunderts’, in U. Albrecht et al., Figur und Raum. Mittelalterliche Holzbildwerke im historischen und kunstgeographischen Kontext. Akten des Internationalen Colloquiums auf der Blomenburg bei Selent (7.-10. Oktober 1992), Berlin 1994, pp. 91-111. the carved Flemish altarpieces in this early period often consisted of series of small figures of saints flanking the central image or images.¹⁸L.F. Jacobs, Early Netherlandish Carved Altarpieces 1380-1550, Cambridge 1998, p. 14, figs. 8, 10-12, 28, 31. For French examples, see P.-Y. Le Pogam with the assistance of C. Vivet-Peclet, Les premiers retables (XIIe-début du XVe siècle): Une mise en scène du sacré, exh. cat. Paris (Musée du Louvre) 2009, nos. 57, 84, 89, 91, 96.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

Literature

D. Hannema, Beschrijvende catalogus van de schilderijen, beeldhouwwerken, aquarellen en tekeningen, exh. cat. Zwolle/Heino (Stichting Hannema-De Stuers Fundatie - Kasteel ‘t Nijenhuis) 1967, under no. 548, with earlier literature; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 6, with earlier literature; D. Hyland and M. Stokstad (eds.), Catalogue of the Sculpture Collection, coll. cat. Lawrence, Kansas (Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art) 1981, p. 18

Citation

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Apostle, Brussels, c. 1410 - c. 1420', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24234

(accessed 18 July 2025 06:50:15).

Figures

Fig. a St Paul, Brussels, c. 1410-20. Walnut with traces of polychromy, h. 41 cm. Heino/Zwolle, Museum de Fundatie