Sculpted. There are two rectangular openings on the reverse for attachment of the wings (missing).

Jaarverslag Nederlandse Rijksmusea 1976, p. 17

The wings are missing.

Commissioned by Leonard Mathias van der Noot, 3rd Baron of Kieseghem (1676-1753), 1764; installed in the Onze-Vrouwekapel in the monastery church of the Calced Carmelites in Brussels, 1748; transferred to the family of the deceased, 1796-97; collection Maximiliaan Louis Count Van der Noot (1764-1847), Brussels; his son Theodore Charles Antoine Count Van der Noot and Marquess of Assche (1818-1889), Hôtel d’Assche, Brussels; Edouard Dimitri Count Van der Noot and Marquess of Assche (1860-1928), Brussels; as part of the Hôtel d’Assche on lease to the American ambassador, Brussels, first documented in 1914;¹¹G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Brussels/Paris 1914, p, 67, no. 138. From 1926 onwards the hôtel was in use as American embassy. transferred to a house of the d’Assche family on Hertogstraat, Brussels, possibly in 1948;²²A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 345; since 1948 the hôtel is used by the Belgian Council of State. collection Elisabeth Catherine Adrienne Marie Anne Countess Van der Noot d’Assche (1899-1974), Brussels, placed on the Altar of Our Lady in the Sint-Elisabethkerk, Brussels-Haren, date unknown;³³J. de Borchgrave d’Altena, Notes pour servir à l’inventaire des oeuvres d’art du Brabant, Arrondissement de Bruxelles (Annales de la Société Royale d’Archéologie de Bruxelles: Mémoires, rapports et documents 47), Brussels 1947, p. 110, p. 87; A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 348. The burial chapel of the Van der Noot-d’Assche family was situated in this church until c. 1922, see W. Halsema-Kubes, ‘Laurent Delvaux’ grafmonument voor Leonard Mathias van der Noot en Helena Catharina de Jonghe’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 24 (1976), pp. 123-39, esp. p. 137, note 25. Mathias van der Noot was living in the castle at Haren, see T.-A. (Abbé) Mann, Description de la ville de Bruxelles ou état présent tant ecclésiastique que civil de cette ville, Brussels 1785, p. 70. from her heirs, with the pendant BK-1976-46-B, $20,000 for the pair, with support of the Belport Familienstiftung, Zürich and through the mediation of the Heim Gallery, London, 1976

Object number: BK-1976-46-A

After the sculpture of Minerva (BK-1970-137), depicting the goddess seated and mourning and once forming the central part of the funerary monument of Leonard Mathias van der Noot, 3rd Baron of Kieseghem (1676-1753) and Helena Catharina de Jonghe (d. 1745), was purchased for the Rijksmuseum, it was possible to acquire its two accompanying mourning putti (one of which is shown here and BK-1976-46-B) six years later. The figurative elements of the ensemble were thus reunited. The tomb was the work of the celebrated Flemish sculptor, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778) and was erected in the Onze-Vrouwekapel in the monastery church of the Calced Carmelites in Brussels in 1748 where various members of the family had found their final resting place.⁴⁴Information on the family, the assignment and the erection of the tomb have been derived from W. Halsema-Kubes, ‘Laurent Delvaux’ grafmonument voor Leonard Mathias van der Noot en Helena Catharina de Jonghe’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 24 (1976), pp. 123-39 and A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999. The ordering of the monument would have been occasioned by the death in 1745 of the spouse of Baron van Kiesegem. It stood for almost fifty years in the church. After the secularization and demolition of the church in 1796-97, the tomb was dismantled and transferred to the family of the deceased.

Leonard Mathias van der Noot sprang from one of the oldest and most prominent families in the Southern Netherlands. Two members of the family became bishops of Ghent and various scions served as mayors of Brussels. Van der Noot himself had an illustrious career in the Habsburg army: from captain in the Walloon Guards in Spain, he then became an infantry captain of a regiment in the service of King Philip V. He served under Emperor Charles VI as a major general of the imperial army. In addition, from 1736 until his death, he held the position of governor and bailiff of the city and citadel of Ghent. One of his dwellings was a castle in Haren, a little north of Brussels.⁵⁵A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 344.

Although no depiction is known to exist of the original funerary monument,⁶⁶The design for the monument cannot be traced, but might have been among the 46 drawings that Willame found in 1914 in the possession of three of the sculptor’s descendants, see G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Brussels/Paris 1914, p. 86, no. 298. a fairly detailed picture of the ensemble can be formed from the contract concluded between Van der Noot and Delvaux on 17 July 1746.⁷⁷For the text of this document, see W. Halsema-Kubes, ‘Laurent Delvaux’ grafmonument voor Leonard Mathias van der Noot en Helena Catharina de Jonghe’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 24 (1976), pp. 123-39, esp. p. 138 (app. II). It was a to be wall tomb, 12 feet (3.33 metres) in height and 7 feet (1.93 metres) in width,⁸⁸The Brussels foot measures 27.6 cm. comprising a black marble pedestal and sarcophagus. The latter had two vertical white marble strips (pilasters) and three white marble tablets with texts. The Minerva figure on top of the sarcophagus had two infants serving as shield-baerers (deux enfans servans de tenans) flanking it and a skull, which has meanwhile disappeared, as the only figurative and distinguishing elements of the tomb. The putti will have been had a somewhat lower place, giving the child on the left (with ouroboros) a logical support against the (edge of the) sarcophagus.

Minerva is seated on a drum and leans on a shield with the Van der Noot coat of arms: five scallop shells forming a cross. She is mourning the loss of the soldier, Van der Noot. At her feet banners, a halberd, a battering-ram, a bundles of arrows, fasces, cannonballs and two gun barrels, and a cuirass on the right are arranged as trophies of war. With her left hand, the goddess holds the hem of her mantle and her spear (part of which is now missing).

The putti are mourning both deceased. The infant on the left is wiping away his tears and would once have been leaning with his elbow against the tomb. In his right hand he holds the ouroboros, the symbol of eternity. The other infant faces left and carries a downward pointing torch in its right hand, its left hand rests on a rocaille-shaped escutcheon with the Van der Noot-de Jonghe alliance arms. The escutcheon is topped by a baron’s crown. Each putto stands on a naturalistically carved base with plants.

The central theme of the goddess of war – here symbolising the prudent, strategically operating soldier – might have been derived from several older Flemish tombs, such as Michiel van der Voort’s monument for general Precipiano (Mechelen, Sint-Romboutskathedraal, 1709) and the tomb of François van Bredehoff by father and son Van Baurscheidt (Oosthuizen, Dutch Reformed church, 1723).⁹⁹S. Durian-Ress, ‘Das barocke Grabmal in den südlichen Niederlanden: Studien zur Ikonographie und Typologie’, Aachener Kunstblätter 45 (1974), pp. 235-330, esp. pp. 315-17, fig. 77; P. van Dael, ‘Pallas als getuige bij de tombe van François van Bredehoff’, Bulletin Stichting Oude Hollandse Kerken 57 (2003), pp. 25-34. In the latter case, the similarity with Delvaux’ work is striking, even though in Oosthuizen the seated Minerva is presented as the exponent of governmental virtues: wisdom, prudence and steadfastness. Both are rooted in a visual tradition found mainly on the engraved title pages of military tracts, such as Samuel Marolois’ Fortification ou architecture militaire (1638), as well as having precursors in seventeenth-century French sculpture.¹⁰¹⁰W. Halsema-Kubes, ‘Laurent Delvaux’ grafmonument voor Leonard Mathias van der Noot en Helena Catharina de Jonghe’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 24 (1976), pp. 123-39, esp. pp. 132-33 and fig. 12. A possible source of inspiration for Delvaux could have been a medal marking the seizure of Lille and the victories of the imperial army of Eugène de Savoie over Louis XIV in Flanders in 1708.¹¹¹¹A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 346.

Three of Delvaux’ terracotta modelli related to the Van der Noot monument still exist: models of his Minerva and of both putti; moreover the shield of the putto on the left bears the sculptor’s monogram.¹²¹²G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Brussels/Paris 1914, p. 67 (nos. 139-141); A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 346. They demonstrate that the sculptor adhered quite closely to his designs when executing the marble versions. They also reveal that the attribute, the ouroboros, of the child on the right, should have been a cloth, and that both putti were conceived without wings.

It is not surprising that Van der Noot chose Laurent Delvaux to make his tomb, since, at that time, he was considered to be one of the best and most internationally-orientated sculptors of the Southern Netherlands. ¹³¹³For Delvaux see G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Brussels/Paris 1914,; C. Avery, ‘Laurent Delvaux’s Sculpture in England’, Studies in European Sculpture, vol. 1, London 1981, pp. 236-52; C. Avery, ‘Laurent Delvaux’s Sculpture for Woburn Abbey’, Studies in European Sculpture, vol. 2, London 1988, pp. 253-64; P. Philippot, D. Coekelberghs, P. Loze and D. Vautier, L’Architecture religieuse et la sculpture baroques dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège: 1600-1770, Sprimont 2003, pp. 1032-37. He learned his craft with Dénis Plumier and, on his recommendation, moved to London round 1717. There he entered the service of Pieter Scheemaeckers II (1691-1781) from Antwerp, who was successful in England as a sculptor of funerary monuments for the aristocracy. Shortly after, Plumier followed his pupil and the three of them worked on the tomb for John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham, for Westminster Abbey. After Plumier’s death, Scheemaeckers and Delvaux continued their collaboration in London. In 1728 they both set out for a study tour to Rome, where Delvaux was to remain until 1732. He continued working from there for English patrons, for instance carving five marble copies of works in Rome, including Bernini’s David in the Galleria Borghese for Woburn Abbey.¹⁴¹⁴C. Avery, ‘Laurent Delvaux’s Sculpture for Woburn Abbey’, Studies in European Sculpture, vol. 2, London 1988, pp. 253-64. He did not return to England direct, but spent some time in Brussels, where he became the court sculptor of the archduchess Maria-Elisabeth, the governess of the Southern Netherlands. After a short stay in London to deliver work commissioned there before his departure for Rome, he settled permanently in Nivelles. From that small town he worked for the local market, as well as for English patrons. The pulpit for Sint-Baafskathedraal in Ghent was one of the major works from that period. This substantial and eye-catching sculptural ensemble was completed in 1745 and its success might well have caused Van der Noot to involve Delvaux for his tomb a year later. The Van der Noot monument was the first assignment for a tomb that Delvaux had realized in his home country. He could elaborate on his experience in England, although (partly as a result of his stay in Rome) he had clearly distanced himself from the Flemish late-Baroque in which he had been trained. Towards the middle of the century, he developed a restrained classicism. The Van der Noot monument, particularly the figure of Minerva, is a fine example of that classicist stylistic tendency.¹⁵¹⁵A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, p. 347.

Frits Scholten, 2025

T.-A. (Abbé) Mann, Description de la ville de Bruxelles ou état présent tant ecclésiastique que civil de cette ville, Brussels 1785, p. 61; E. Marchal, ‘Mémoire sur la sculpture aux Pays-Bas pendant les XVIe et XVIIIe siècles, précédé d’un résumé historique’, Mémoires de l’Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Beaux-Arts 41, Brussels 1877, p. 102; E. Fiévet, Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages du sculpteur Laurent Delvaux, Nivelles 1878, pp. 18-19; E. Fiévet, Annales de la Société archéologique de l’Arrondissement de Nivelles, vol.1, Nivelles 1879, pp. 109-10; E. Fiévet, Notice sur la vie et les oeuvres du statuaire Laurent Delvaux, Brussels 1878, pp. 31, 34; E. van Even, ‘La dernière abbesse de Nivelles (Marie-Felicité-Philippine comtesse Van den Noot)’, Annales de la Société archéologique de l’Arrondissement de Nivelles, vol. 3, 1892, pp. 130-75, esp. pp. 146-47; E. Marchal, La sculpture et les chefs-d’oeuvre de l’orfèvrerie belges, Brussels 1895, p. 521; G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Brussels/Paris 1914, pp. 19, 67, no. 138; M. Devigne, ‘De la parenté d’inspiration des artistes flamands du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle: Laurent Delvaux et ses élèves’, in Mémoires de l’Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Beaux-Arts, 2nd series, 3, fas. 1, Brussels 1928, p. 11; J. de Borchgrave d’Altena, Notes pour servir à l’inventaire des oeuvres d’art du Brabant, Arrondissement de Bruxelles (Annales de la Société Royale d’Archéologie de Bruxelles: Mémoires, rapports et documents 47), Brussels 1947, pp. 87, 110; F.J.J.M. Haks (comp.), Het beeld in de Nederlandse barok, exh. cat. Utrecht (Aartsbisschoppelijk Museum) 1963, p. 15 (Minerva); J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 411 (Minerva); W. Halsema-Kubes, ‘Laurent Delvaux’ grafmonument voor Leonard Mathias van der Noot en Helena Catharina de Jonghe’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 24 (1976), pp. 123-39; Jaarverslag Nederlandse Rijksmusea 1976, p. 16, figs. 6, 7; D. Coeckelberghs in D. Coeckelberghs, P. Loze, Trésors d’art des églises de Bruxelles (Annales de la Société royale d’archéologie de Bruxelles 56), exh. cat. Brussels (Notre-Dame de la Chapelle) 1979, p. 180, no. 135 (for two casts in plaster in the Notre-Dame de la Chapelle in Brussels, after the Mourning Putti) ; C-E. de Schaetzen van Brienen, Laurent Delvaux 1696-1778: Un sculpteur des Pays-Bas autrichiens 1988-89 (unpublished thesis, Institut Supérieur d’Histoire de l’Art et d’Archéologie de Bruxelles), pp. 30, 72, nos. 130, 131; A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (Gand, 1696-Nivelles, 1778), Paris 1999, pp. 39, 56, 142, 343-50 (nos. S 128A to -C); P. Philippot, D. Coekelberghs, P. Loze and D. Vautier, L’Architecture religieuse et la sculpture baroques dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège: 1600-1770, Sprimont 2003, p. 1036

F. Scholten, 2025, 'Laurent Delvaux, Mourning Putto, from the Funerary Monument of Leonard Mathias van der Noot, Baron of Kieseghem (1676-1753) and Helena Catharina de Jonghe (d. 1745), Nivelles, 1746 - 1748', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20036367