…; from the collection A.P. Hermans-Smits (1822-1897), Eindhoven, with numerous other objects (BK-NM-2001 to -2800), fl. 14,000 for all, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-2497

The composition of this statuette is derived from sculptures such as the Southern Netherlandish walnut Mourning Virgin, from a Calvary of circa 1420-30 preserved in the Bode-Museum in Berlin (fig. a).¹¹Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung, inv. no. 8475, see J. Kempf (ed.), Sculpture Collection in the Bode Museum, coll. cat. Berlin (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung) 2008, p. 92 (ill.). Both figures are largely concealed within their cloaks, with the hands crossed before the breast. The superior Berlin sculpture boasts elegant, deep-carved, broad folds, while the hem descends in conical draperies reminiscent of the International Gothic. The erratic treatment of the drapery on the present, much smaller oak example is more akin to that of works produced in the region of Cleves-Guelders during the first quarter of the sixteenth century, including a small group of the Meeting of Joachim and Anne in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (BK-NM-11964) and a Mary Magdalene in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, with which she also shares the slender body with the ‘V’-shaped neckline.²²Inv. no. ABM Bh268, see M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 333-34 (with ill.). Mourning figures of the Virgin covered in voluminous, ornately rendered cloaks were also carved in the Brussels workshop of the Borman family in the early decades of the sixteenth century, albeit in a somewhat softer style.³³For two mourning Virgins attributed to Pasquier Borman, see D. Preising and M. Rief, Niederländische Skulpturen von 1130 bis 1600, coll. cat. Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2017, no. 1 and fig. 1 on p. 42.

Mary typically stands left of the cross, implying that her head would have been averted from the central scene. The inconsistency of her gaze in combination with the disproportionately small head and what appears to be a modern facial type raises doubts with respect to the Amsterdam piece’s authenticity, a conclusion only reinforced by the strange dent in the folds descending from her right sleeve. Leeuwenberg introduced a link between this sculpture and a Mourning Virgin in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), which he ‘likewise’ deems a forgery.⁴⁴J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 512. In accordance with Devigne’s findings, however, the London museum continues to view this latter work as an authentic example of early-sixteenth-century wood carving, possibly originating from Maastricht.⁵⁵London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 591-1906 (accessed 5 May 2020), also see M. Devigne, La Sculpture Mosane du XIIe au XVIe Siècle, Paris 1932, fig. 199.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024