Holy Pope

Entry

Restoration work in the tower of the Oude Kerk in Soest in 1905 uncovered in a bricked-up area an important treasure trove of statues, albeit in a deplorable condition.² It is assumed that the figures were hidden there either in 1566 at the outbreak of the Iconoclasm or in December 1580, when Calvinists in the Eemland region endeavoured to destroy every last remnant of religious art.³

Among the items found was this figure of an anonymous Holy Pope which has been cut off abruptly below the elbows. The pope may have been holding a book or making a gesture of blessing with one of his missing hands. Since this is the only known half-length statue of this kind, it is probably a fragment of what was once a standing or seated figure (cf. BK-NM-28 and BK-NM-11537).⁴ The pope wears a surplice, with an amice standing out above it. Over this he wears a cope fastened with a band. He wears a papal tiara with pendant lappets. According to Vogelsang the figure’s face was deliberately damaged by iconoclasts.⁵ Leeuwenberg believes that the absence of the lower part is confirmation of this.⁶

The figure is blocky and rather stiff. It was probably made in the sculpture centre of Utrecht, near Soest. Leeuwenberg attributed a figure of a Holy Priest (BK-NM-12006-7), likewise found in Soest, which Bouvy convincingly dated between around 1500 and 1520,⁷ to the same hand.⁸ Despite the badly damaged state of that figure it is still evident that the characteristic faces of the two figures are indeed very alike. Both have large, deep-set, half-closed eyes with crow’s feet, deep creases in the skin from the nose to the corners of the mouth, and a wide mouth with a protruding lower lip. The amice worn by both men is wrapped around the neck in the same way.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024