Faith, from the Facade of the Penninckshuis in Deventer

Sculpted from a single block of stone.

Numerous points of damage. A section of the robe has broken off. Both hands are missing, as are the plinth and sections of the drapery folds.

Commissioned by Herman Penninck (d. 25 June 1613) and placed in the facade of his house, known as the Penninckshuis, Deventer, after 23 May 1588; transferred to the museum, with BK-18757-B to -F, 1890

ObjectNumber: BK-18757-A

During a major restoration of the Penninckshuis, these allegorical female figures personifying six of the seven virtues were removed from their niches in the sixteenth century facade and transferred to the Rijksmuseum in 1890. Since that time, modern copies have stood in their place, likely made by W.G. van Poorten.¹¹R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83, esp. p. 169. The Penninckshuis is the only private residence in the Northern Netherlands decorated with such an extensive programme of the virtues on its facade. Ass in other parts of Europe, this iconography was typically reserved for (civic) governmental buildings.

The Penninckshuis stands on the Brink, the central market square of Deventer. This building, with its rich, sandstone street front in northern mannerist style, was commissioned by Herman Penninck, a wealthy textile merchant and member of a prominent patrician family that remained openly Catholic even after the Reformation. In 1583, Penninck married Lucia de Reede. Due to the absence of archival sources concerning the facade’s construction, the year of the couple’s marriage was initially accepted as a general dating. With the discovery of the purchasing deed, however, it was later shown that the facade could not have risen prior to 23 May 1588.²²E.H. ter Kuile and A.C.F. Koch, De Nederlandse monumenten van geschiedenis en kunst: De provincie Overijssel, vol. 4, part 2, Zuid-Salland, The Hague 1964, p. 378. In all probability, the facade was designed in the years 1587-91, at a time when Deventer was again under Spanish occupation with Catholics able to freely practice their faith.³³R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83, esp. p. 163.

The six allegorical women personify: Faith (Fides), Hope (Spes), Charity (Caritas), Prudence (Prudentia), Fortitude (Fortitudo) and Temperance (Temperantia). The first three form the theological virtues, and the remaining represent three of the four cardinal virtues. The most logical place for the missing cardinal virtue, Justice (Justitia), was at the very top of the facade. That such a statue indeed stood in this location, however, seems improbable. Unlike the other six virtues, Justitia’s name is absent from the facade. Moreover, the crowning roof element appears too narrow for a statue of this height. Finally, as far as can be ascertained, Justitia’s image is found only on specific governmental buildings. Programmes of the virtues comparable to that of the Penninckshuis are found mainly in Germany, specifically in the region of the Weser River.⁴⁴R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83, esp. p. 171.

Inscribed on the building’s facade is the Penninck family’s device: Alst Godt behaget, ist beter benidet als beklaghet (If it pleases God, it is better [to be] envied than [to be] pitied), derived from Herodotus’s Histories (Book 3, Ch. 52). With these words, the allegorical programme of the virtues and architectural elements like the monumental entryway, Herman Penninck was presenting himself as a pious and lettered man, a trustworthy merchant and ‘ruler’.⁵⁵R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83, esp. pp. 167-69. The absence of pronounced elements conveying his Roman Catholic background, however, also suggests his wish to avoid provocation. This would have stemmed from the coming tide of the Reformation, which was gaining increasing support as well among the inhabitants of Deventer at this time.⁶⁶R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83.

The effusively decorated facade of the Penninckshuis is very clearly influenced by the Weser Renaissance. Vermeulen believed its designer was to be sought among architects originating from the region of Westphalia.⁷⁷F. Vermeulen, Handboek tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandsche bouwkunst, vol. 2, Kentering en Renaissance, The Hague 1931, p. 344. As Leeuwenberg observed,⁸⁸J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 175. the odd, highly mannerist sculptures of the full-breasted female figures with their long necks, exaggerated hand gestures and strong contrapposto stances, display an affinity with sculpture originating from western Germany.⁹⁹Cf. the allegories of the virtues on the facade in Paderborn (1603) and those on the frieze of a mantelpiece in Wewelsburg (1604), C. Stiegemann, Heinrich Gröninger, um 1578-1631: Ein Beitrag zur Skulptur zwischen Spätgotik und Barock im Fürstbistum Paderborn (Studien und Quellen zur westfälischen Geschichte 26), Paderborn 1989, figs. 318, 326, 326, 327. Stylistic parallels also exist with several bronzes by the Nuremberg sculptor Benedikt Wurzelbauer (cf. E.F. Bange, Die deutschen Bronzestatuetten des 16. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1949, figs. 189-95), but these are more likely coincidental in nature. Despite the clumsiness of the execution, they possess a pronounced style and character all their own. As such, they may be classified as works produced in a regional workshop, tenably (also?) in Westphalia.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 211, with earlier literature; R. Stenvert, ‘Het Penninckshuis te Deventer: Onderzoek naar achtergronden van gebouw en restauratie’, Bulletin Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 85 (1986), pp. 161-83, esp. pp. 169-72

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Faith, from the Facade of the Penninckshuis in Deventer, Westphalia, c. 1588', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035634