St James, from an Ambo

Carved in relief. There are a number of holes in the reverse for securing the work.

The nose and the right half of the face, the halo, the book and parts of the profiled border are damaged. The lower section, with James’s feet and the base on which he stands, is missing.

...; found in the church of Sts Wiro, Plechelmus and Otgerus, Sint Odiliënberg (near Roermond), 1878;¹¹Maas en Roerbode, 6 July 1878; see also A. van Pol, Twee zandstenen beelden uit St. Odiliënberg in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, Sint Odiliënberg 2001, p. 190. from the pastor of this church, with several other objects (BK-NM-8433 to -8443), fl. 800 for all, to the museum, 1887; on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, 2003-11; on loan to the Basilica of Sts Wiro, Plechelmus and Otgerus, Sint Odiliënberg, since December 2016

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-8438

This relief of the apostle James and its companion piece of the apostle John (see the entry on BK-NM-8439 or fig. a), were found by the architect Pierre Cuypers in 1878 during the extensive restoration and partial rebuilding of the seriously dilapidated Romanesque church of Sts Wiro, Plechelmus and Otgerus in Sint Odiliënberg (near Roermond). In 1887 the pastor of the church sold the apostle reliefs and some other objects found during the renovation works, including several fragments of an ambo,²²Inv. nos. BK-NM-8840 and BK-NM-8840-1 to -3. For the sale, in which Pierre Cuypers, who was also the Rijksmuseum architect, mediated between the pastor and the museum, see C.A.A. Linssen, ‘Pastoor M.A.H. Willemsen van Sint-Odiliënberg 1831-1904. Een schets van leven en werken’, Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg 128 (1992), pp. 121-84, esp. p. 158. There are replicas of the reliefs dating from around 1880 in the church, together with four more apostles, all by the Aachen sculptor Wilhelm Pohl. to the Rijksmuseum.

The apostles are carved in quite high relief. The two figures are depicted frontally and stand under a profiled border bearing their name. James’s head is turned slightly to the right, and he holds an open book in both hands bearing the Latin inscription: AMIC[US] S[AE]C[U]LI HVIUS INIMICUS DEI CO[N]STITVIT[UR] (A friend of the world is the enemy of God [James 4:4]). The way the sculptor tried to reinforce the effect of depth by rendering the top and bottom of the book’s spine in distorted perspective is a striking feature. John’s head is turned slightly to the left and he holds a scroll aloft in his left hand. With his right he points to the Latin words: : DILIGAM[US]. I[N]VICE[M]. Q[U]IA. KARITAS. EX. D[E]O. E[ST] (Let us love one another: for love is of God [1 John 4:7]). John stands on a base of boulders or rocks. In all likelihood James stood on a similar natural base, but this part has been broken off. No traces of polychromy or gilding have been found on the reliefs.

In the past there was no consensus about the original purpose of the reliefs, but the continuous profiled frieze at the top and the securing holes on the reverse mean that they would certainly have been an integral architectural element. Suggestions included part of an altarpiece, a pulpit, elements of a choir screen or ornaments on the church porch.³³For the different opinions see J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, pp. 32-33. However, Den Hartog’s interpretation of the archeological finds in the church convincingly demonstrates that the two reliefs must have decorated the two ambos projecting from the wall of the Romanesque choir screen.⁴⁴E. den Hartog, Romanesque Sculpture in Maastricht, Maastricht 2002, p. 513.

The Centraal Museum in Utrecht has a similar relief, attributed to the same workshop but dated some twenty-five years later.⁵⁵R. Ligtenberg, Die romanische Steinplastik in den nördlichen Niederländen, vol. 1, The Hague 1918, p. 38; J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, pp. 44-45, 189, no. 8; E. den Hartog, Romanesque Sculpture in Maastricht, Maastricht 2002, pp. 94-95. This relief, which came from the Sint-Janskerk in Utrecht and was probably also part of an ambo, depicts a standing John the Baptist (fig. b). Like the Sint Odiliënberg apostle reliefs it is carved out of carboniferous sandstone, which was quarried chiefly in the region around Maastricht. Stylistically, too, the three reliefs can be associated with Maastricht. There are good parallels for the rigid facial expressions and the way the draperies are rendered in the sculpture made around 1150 for the Sint-Servaaskerk and the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe Basiliek in the city.⁶⁶Cf. for example two tympana in the Sint-Servaaskerk and a relief of St Nicholas in the Basilica, see E. den Hartog, Romanesque Sculpture in Maastricht, Maastricht 2002, ills. on pp. 367, 406, 466. The sculptors in Maastricht maintained good contacts with their confrères in Northern Italy, which explains certain stylistic similarities.⁷⁷Cf. for example a panel in Modena Cathedral in E. den Hartog, Romanesque Sculpture in Maastricht, Maastricht 2002, fig. 131, and a relief of a figure of a prophet at the west door of Cremona Cathedral in J.J.M. Timmers, De kunst van het Maasland, vol. 1, Assen 1971, fig. 408.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 2a, with earlier literature; C.A.A. Linssen, ‘Pastoor M.A.H. Willemsen van Sint-Odiliënberg 1831-1904. Een schets van leven en werken’, Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg 128 (1992), pp. 121-84, esp. p. 158; J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, pp. 45-6; A. van Pol, ‘Twee zandstenen beelden uit St. Odiliënberg in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam’, Sint Odiliënberg 2001, pp. 190-94; E. den Hartog, Romanesque Sculpture in Maastricht, Maastricht 2002, pp. 102, 512-18; F. Scholten and G. de Werd, Een hogere werkelijkheid: Duitse en Franse beeldhouwkunst 1200-1600 uit het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam/Eine höhere Wirklichkeit, Deutsche und Französische Skulptur 1200-1600 aus dem Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, exh. cat. Cleves (Museum Kurhaus Kleve) 2004-06, p. 9; E. den Hartog in B. van den Bossche (ed.), L’art mosan. Liège et son pays à l’époque romane du XIe au XIIIe siècle, Alleur 2007, p. 166

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, St James, from an Ambo, Maastricht, c. 1150 - c. 1170', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24230