Carved and painted white. The back is flat and lightly worked.

The Virgin’s right hand and possibly the sceptre have been renewed. Three fingers of the left hand and all toes of the Christ Child’s right foot are missing. The original, silver rococo-pedestal is in the Sint-Catharinakerk in Eindhoven. The whereabouts of the Virgin’s silver crown are unknown.

Commissioned for the altar of the Virgin Mary in the Sint-Catharinakerk, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, Amsterdam, in or after 1739-in or before 1758; transferred to the Sint-Catharinakerk, Singel, Amsterdam, c. 1820;¹¹Mentioned in the 1858 inventory of the church, see SAA 740 (archive of the Begijnhof), inv. no. 871. from which removed between 1933 and 1939; …; from the dealer A. Staal, Amsterdam, fl. 1,200, to the museum, 1954

Object number: BK-1954-41

The Virgin is clad in a finely pleated tunic, over which an outer garment drapes elegantly around her body, cascading in decorative folds. From the pleated sleeves those of another garment emerge, possibly a chemise. She holds a sceptre in her right hand and in her left she carries the Christ Child, who has lovingly wrapped his right arm round her neck, while cheerfully extending his left leg. He is looking at her, open-mouthed, as if he is speaking to her. Mary inclines her head towards the child as if to hear him better.

This pleasing limewood Virgin and Child originates from one of Amsterdam’s most important clandestine churches, the former Sint-Catharinakerk, also known as ‘De Lelie’. This church was founded in 1646 at the Boommarkt near the Spui, and later extended to the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. An engraving by Caspar Jacobsz Philips of 1769 shows the statue on the altar to the left of the main altar (RP-P-1905-582). In the print, she is still complete with a crown on her head and standing on a pedestal with rocaille ornamentations. St Catherine of Alexandria, to whom the clandestine church in Amsterdam was dedicated, was worshipped at the other side of the main altar. However, since the pulpit was located there as well, there was only space for a relief with St Catharine’s likeness.

The creation of the rococo interior to which these side-altars belonged was presided over by pastor Johannes Herman Simon Oen (1698-1771)²²For the interior, see D.-J. Biemond, ‘Decente Magnificentie: Wereldse luister voor de kerk’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp. 203-53, esp. pp. 232-43. who took up office in 1739. The main altar by Carel van Savoyen (1620-1665) and the two altarpieces by Nicolaes Roosendael (1634/35-1686), commissioned by the church in the seventeenth century, were redeployed there.³³For these altarpieces, see R. Schillemans, ‘Altarpieces by Carel van Savoye and Nicolaes Roosendael’, The Hoogsteder-Nauman Mercury 13/14 (1992), pp. 53-59. In his Beschryving van Amsterdam of 1765, the city biographer Jan Wagenaar selected these painted works and the ‘Figure of Our Lady with the infant Jesus which is splendidly carved in wood’ as the most important sights of the Sint-Catharinakerk.⁴⁴Lieve-Vrouwenbeeld met het kind Jesus, welk zeer fraay van hout is gesneden, see Jan Wagenaar, Beschryving van Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1765, p. 146.

At the start of the nineteenth century the clandestine church had fallen into disrepair. After 1813 it was no longer been forbidden to establish Roman Catholic churches in the Netherlands and so in 1817 construction of a larger, neo-classicist church could be started at the Singel. After this new house of God was completed in 1820, part of the old inventory moved to the new premises, in all probability including the present statue of the Virgin and Child. This follows from a description in an inventory drawn up in 1859, which states: ‘A statue of the Virgin with the Infant Jesus, height 0.90 on a Console. The figure bears unmistakable signs of Age. Perhaps it is the same, about which Wagenaar [Jan Wagenaar (1709-1773), a Dutch historian and city chronicler of Amsterdam] says “a statue of Our Lady with the infant Jesus is also kept (in the R.C. Church on the N.Z. Voorburgwal on the West side between the Spui and the Roskamsteeg) which is splendidly carved in wood”.’⁵⁵Een Mariabeeld met het Kind Jezus, hoog 0.90 op een Console. Het beeld draagt onmiskenbare teekenen van Oudheid. Welligt is dit hetzelfde, waarvan Wagenaar zegt “ook wordt er (in de R.K. Kerk op de N.Z. Voorburgwal aan de Westzijde tusschen het Spui en de Roskamsteeg) een Lieve Vrouwenbeeld met het kind Jezus bewaard, welk zeer fraai van hout gesneden is”, see SAA 740 (archive of the Begijnhof), inv. no. 871.

We can conclude from the said print and inventory that the altar at which the statue of the Virgin originally stood, was decorated with a collection of silver objects, including altar vases and a reliquary.⁶⁶D.-J. Biemond, ‘Decente Magnificentie: Wereldse luister voor de kerk’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp. 203-53, esp. pp. 234-35. The silver pedestal of the Madonna is described in the inventory as ‘embossed in shell-style on wood; in the central shield a massive Mary cipher, under which projecting crown, both attached with silver screw fittings’.⁷⁷in schulpstijl gedreven op hout; op het middenschild een massief Maria-cijfer, onder dito uitstekende kroon, beide met zilverschroefwerk vastgehecht. After the church at the Singel was also closed down in 1933 and demolished in 1939, the pedestal was put up for auction in 1948, together with the other silver items from the ensemble.⁸⁸Sale Amsterdam (Mak van Waay), 21-23 December 1948, no. 470 (ill., the pedestal stands on the bottom step in the middle). The sale catalogue mentions that the pedestal bears the city mark of Amsterdam, indistinct makers’ marks and the date mark ‘Y’,⁹⁹D.-J. Biemond, ‘Decente Magnificentie: Wereldse luister voor de kerk’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp. 203-53, esp. pp. 235-37. which stands for the year 1758 and also provides a reliable terminus ante quem for the piece. The pedestal was acquired by the Sint-Catharinakerk in Eindhoven, together with seven other elements of the ensemble. It can still be found there, though it has been reshaped into an exposition throne.¹⁰¹⁰Inventory report Sint-Catharinakerk Eindhoven 2006-2008, Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland 2009, inv. no. 7454-2. The statue of the Virgin surfaced on the Amsterdam art market in 1954 where it was purchased by the Rijksmuseum.

We can deduct from the above that the statue must have been created between 1739 and 1758. An origin from this period is supported by the style that is a compromise between late baroque and rococo and is akin to contemporary examples from Antwerp, as made by Walter Pompe (1703-1777)¹¹¹¹Cf. for example KIK-IRPA object nos. 63685, 111714 and 50005063. An attribution to Pompe might even be worth considering, yet no good parallels can be found in his work for the fine pleating of the Virgin’s garment. and inspired by late seventeenth-century works by Artus Quellinus II (1625-1700) and his circle. Biemond noted, rightly, that the pose and the treatment of the hair are highly reminiscent of those of the four angels on the case of the organ installed around 1740 in the first Sint-Catharinakerk and is now in the Mennonite church of Steenwijk.¹²¹²D.-J. Biemond, ‘Decente Magnificentie: Wereldse luister voor de kerk’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp. 203-53, esp. p. 236. Leeuwenberg equated the statue with a rather similar work in Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden.¹³¹³J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 301. Although there are some similarities in the tall figures of the two Madonnas and the playfulness of the Christ Child, the lavish drapery of the sculpture in Leiden corresponds more with the late baroque of the early eighteenth century.¹⁴¹⁴Photo in Object File RMA. Whereas Leeuwenberg surmised that the Amsterdam statue had been executed by a local sculptor (from the Northern Netherlands), its style strongly suggests an origin in the prominent centre of sculpture Antwerp. This ‘import’ was very usual in the protestant part of the Netherlands, particularly when it involved religious sculptures of this quality and monumentality.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 422, with earlier literature; D.-J. Biemond, ‘Decente Magnificentie: Wereldse luister voor de kerk’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp. 203-53, esp. pp. 234-35 and 237; Scholten in R. Baarsen et al., Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum 1700-1800, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2006, p. 226

B. van der Mark, 2025, 'anonymous, Virgin and Child, Antwerp, c. 1740 - c. 1750', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035864