The Marriage of the Virgin

Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is flat.

The surface has lost much of its detailing, likely a consequence of removing the polychromy with a caustic.

…; 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

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-2489

This highly abraded retable group depicts a scene of the marriage of Mary and Joseph. The high priest presiding over the ceremony stands to the right of the couple. Derived from apocryphal stories, the Marriage of the Virgin first appears in narrative cycles centring on the life of the Virgin in the twelfth century. The wedding itself typically takes place either inside or in front of the same temple where Mary was raised.

In all probability, this retable group originally belonged to a Marian altar. In light of its small scale and simple composition, the group likely appeared in one of the concave frames typically encountered on Antwerp retables. A comparable group survives in the Antwerp-made Marian altar of Pailhe (c. 1510-30). It is situated in the concave frame right of the Circumcision scene in the left bay.¹¹Brussels, Art and History Museum, inv. no. 425, see KIK-IRPA, object no. 20008842, esp. cliché KM014687.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 898

Bieke van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, The Marriage of the Virgin, Low Countries, c. 1500 - c. 1520', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.25680