Crowning Element of a Tabernacle, with the Virgin and Child flanked by Sts Benedict and Bernard of Clairvaux

Sculpted in relief and polychromed.

Mary’s left hand, Benedict’s right hand and the curl of his crosier have been replaced. A (restored) diagonal break traverses from the left spandrel, via Mary’s neck and left shoulder to the middle of the right outer edge at the level of the right-hand figure’s shoulder. The polychromy is original, excepting the bronze-coloured painting, which is chiefly applied over an original gold leaf gilding. This original gilding can still be seen, for instance, in the spandrels and above Mary’s left shoulder.

…; from collection Prince Karel-Theodoor Hendrik Anton Meinrad (1903-1983), Count of Flanders, Prince of Belgium, Oostende;¹¹Note RMA. For the life of this prince, see R. Emmery, Prins Karel: Leven in de schaduw van Leopold III, Antwerp 2007. sale Amsterdam (Christie’s), 12-13 September 1985, no. 428, fl. 34,800, to the Rijksmuseum-Stichting, Amsterdam; on loan to the museum, since 1985; on loan to the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst, Uden, 2005-12

ObjectNumber: BK-1985-41

The format of this unique and exceptionally refined relief recalls a so-called ‘memorial tablet’, but in the absence of a donor or any ostensible reference to death, this function seems quite improbable. More telling is the clerical nature of the relief’s iconography, which nevertheless rules out the possibility of its use as an object of private devotion, such as a house altar. In 1989, Haarsma theorized that the relief – albeit with no means of verifying its specific purpose and with no comparable pieces known to exist²²For an example of a much larger, crowning element that adorns a gothic tabernacle, see M. Hasse, Die Marienkirche zu Lübeck, Munich 1983, fig. 65 (in this case, a Eucharistic representation of John the Baptist (?) and the lamb, kneeling in front of an altar in a gothic church). – is most likely to have functioned as a carved decorative element surmounting a wall tabernacle of a church.³³E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 91-95. Her key argument lay in a number of explicit iconographic references to the Eucharist. First and foremost, the Christ Child appears holding two sacred objects kept in a church’s tabernacle: in his left hand he holds a chalice, in his right the Host. Depicted in this manner, he fulfils the symbolic role of the ‘first priest’, who, in a ritual known as the ‘Minor Elevation’, raises the Chalice and the Host while reciting the final verses of the Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon). If so, Christ’s banderole may possibly have been inscribed with a fragment of this canonical text. Also depicted on the relief are Mary, St John the Baptist, and the saints Peter and Paul. During the Preface to the Canon, the priest not only dedicates his offering to all saints, but in the same breath he specifically cites the names of these four holy figures.⁴⁴E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 65-66. Mary, wearing the crown upon her head and appearing in combination with her son holding the Chalice and the Host, can therefore be identified as Ecclesia, the Bride of Christ in the Song of Songs.⁵⁵E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 73-74.

Flanking the central scene of the Virgin and Child are two important monastic saints, accompanied by abbatial symbols of distinction: the crosier (baculum; on the left accompanied by a white sudarium) and the shoes (pedules). Appearing on the left is St Benedict of Nursia (480-550), the eponymous founder of the Benedictine Order, dressed in a black cowl (a long hooded garment); standing on the right is the founder of the Cistercian Order, St Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153).⁶⁶E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 35-38. The figure on the right cannot be entirely ruled out as a depiction of Abbot St Norbert. His appearance in combination with Benedict, however, would then be difficult to explain, considering that the Premonstratensians followed the monastic rule of Augustine. The identification of this figure has a Carthusian saint, e.g. Hugh of Lincoln, Bruno of Cologne or Hugh of Grenoble, can be ruled out on iconographic grounds, as these saints were never depicted as abbots. In status and scale, these two figures are rendered virtually equal to the Virgin and Child and even assigned a place above the apostles Peter and Paul, whose half-figures adorn the predella. Positioned between them is John the Baptist, depicted in his role as the prophet of Christ’s coming. The Old Testament prophet, visible beneath the corbel on which the Virgin stands and who points in Christ’s direction, has been given a similar function. In all probability, he is Isaiah, who proclaims the opening words of Salvation History: Ecce virgo concipiet… (Is. 7:14). Presumably, these words were originally inscribed on his banderole.⁷⁷E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), p. 75. The relief’s iconography therefore bears an explicit monastic stamp, clearly affirming its place and function within a monastic environment.

Although by no means commonly associated with iconographic convention related to the devotion of Mary, the Christ Child, or the Eucharist, the joint presence of the saints Benedict and Bernard provides a clear indication of the relief’s original context. Such a combined devotion is in fact characteristic of Cistercian ideology in north-western Europe, stemming directly from the affective teachings of Bernard of Clairvaux, with his emphasis on Christ’s human nature.⁸⁸J. van Herwaarden, ‘Geloof en geloofsuitingen in de veertiende en vijftiende eeuw. Eucharistie en Lijden van Christus’, in J.D. Janssens (ed.), Hoofsheid en devotie in de middeleeuwse maatschappij: De Nederlanden van de 12e tot de 15e eeuw, Brussels 1982, pp. 174-207, esp. p. 179; A. Schneider, Die Cisterzienser, Geschichte, Geist, Kunst, Cologne 1974, p. 166. Mary’s role as the bride from the Song of Songs is also a central theme in Bernard’s writings. Accordingly, the patron and function of this relief must be sought in a Cistercian monastery. Benedict’s presence is not a contradiction, when considering that the Cistercians lived by the rule of the Benedictine Order, even applying it to a stricter degree and placing greater value on simplicity, self-restraint and asceticism.⁹⁹The other way around would have been quite inconceivable. Bernard of Clairvaux voiced his critique of the Benedictines’ lifestyle unreservedly and would therefore never have appeared in a relief made for a Benedictine monastery.

In format, the relief is a miniature version of a memorial tablet or the mid-section of a monumental altar retable, specifically of a type produced in the In Low Countries during the early sixteenth century: a broad, often tripartite altar with a sinuously curving arch at the top. Examples are found in places such as Utrecht, Antwerp and Brussels, with most datable to the second decade of the sixteenth century.¹⁰¹⁰E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 20-21; for example, the Antwerp altarpiece in the Marienkirche van Lübeck, ordered in 1518 and delivered in 1522, see H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 2, p. 3, fig. 24; for a Brussels retable in this basic format, see P. Williamson, Netherlandish Sculpture 1450-1550, coll. cat. London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 2002, no. 19 (c. 1520) and B. D’Hainaut-Zveny (ed.), Miroirs du sacré: Les retables sculptés à Bruxelles XVe-XVIe siècles: Production, Formes et usages, Brussels 2005, p. 159 and H. Nieuwdorp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh Antwerpen (Musea Nostra 26), Antwerp s.a., p. 94 (inv. no. 403, a small retable bearing a Brussels stamp, c. 1500, in which this format appears, though still framed by a rectangular format caisse). For Utrecht, see J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, no. 94 (Master of the Utrecht Stone Female Head, Epitaph for a Canon, c. 1510-20) and J. Leeuwenberg, ‘Een nieuw facet aan een Utrechtse beeldhouwkunst, 3: Vijf Utrechtse altaarkasten in Noorwegen’, Oud Holland 74 (1959), pp. 79-102, esp. pp. 90, 91, fig. 5 (Grip Stavkirke, Norway). Lastly, the epitaph in Avesnes executed in stone for Canon Machiel Scribaens (d. 1504) with the Seat of Mercy (Leuven, Sint-Pieterskerk). Other known sources include a number of engravings with designs for gothic (retable) architecture designed by the Master W with the Key, whose workshop has been traced to Bruges (e.g. fig. a).¹¹¹¹M. Lehrs, Geschichte und kritischer Katalog des deutschen, niederländischen und französischen Kupferstichs im XV. Jahrhundert, Vienna 1908-34, vol. 7, p. 91, no. 63. I.M. de Groot and M. de Jong, Ornamentprenten in het Rijksprentenkabinet, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1988, no. 120. Most closely related to the Amsterdam relief is perhaps a retable in Clérey, a municipality in the department of Aube in northern France. Although the caisse bears the wood quality mark of Antwerp, the retable itself is attributed to a workshop in Mechelen. Here we encounter the round arch not only framed within the retable’s basic rectangular format but also as an independent form in the two lower flanking niches of the caisse. Also to be observed is the clear similarity of the caisse’s moulding and the form of the predella.¹²¹²H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, p. 21 and fig. 7.

The fine tracery of the three niches is highly compact, rendered in a pattern with a number of variations previously encountered nowhere. The decorative beading above the top row of arches in the side niches, for example, is exceptional and without antecedent. The flat keystones are a motif also rarely encountered, but possibly inspired by monumental architecture on the rood screen in the Sint-Pieterskerk in Leuven (1488).¹³¹³E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 23-24. A similar form can likewise be seen in the Saluzzo Altarpiece of circa 1510-20 by the Brussels workshop of the Borman-family.¹⁴¹⁴Brussels, Museum of the City Brussels (Broodhuis), inv. no. 1.5.1.-1.5.2, see R. de Boodt and U. Schäfer, Vlaamse retabels: Een internationale reis langs laatmiddeleeuws beeldsnijwerk, Leuven 2007, pp. 188-89; M. Debaene (ed.), Borman: A Family of Northern Renaissance Sculptors, exh. cat. Leuven (Museum M) 2019, no. 235 (as ‘Jan II or III? Borman, c. 1500-20’). The uncommonly heavy execution of the small crowning arches in the side niches – certainly when compared to retable tracery executed in wood or lead – appears to be largely a result of limitations imposed by the material itself. Nevertheless, a small stone epitaph in the ambulatory of the Sint-Dimpnakerk in Geel likewise has a heavy moulding similar to that found on the Amsterdam altar. Here too, the material is certainly much to blame for the bulky execution.¹⁵¹⁵R. de Boodt and U. Schäfer, Vlaamse retabels: Een internationale reis langs laatmiddeleeuws beeldsnijwerk, Leuven 2007, p. 215. The compact rendering of these traceries is reminiscent of the metselrie found on a small oak portable altar, likely of Brabantine (Mechelen?) origin.¹⁶¹⁶Approximately one meter high (present whereabouts unknown; photo in Object File). Notably, the struck ‘M’ on the open page of Paul’s book does not signify a connection to Mechelen: neither the letter type nor the placement outside the gilding concur with the polychromy mark of that city.¹⁷¹⁷E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), p. 6, following consultation with Ms G. Derveaux-van Ussel.

In spite of the relief’s distinct figurative style, no specific regional attribution as yet been determined. Noteworthy is the sculptor’s attempt to instil a naturalness in the folds of the drapery. Contrary to the standard graphic, angular schemes one typically observes in sculpture from this period, here ripples, breaks and creases in the folds are used to achieve a lively effect particularly evident in Mary’s blue mantle and the lower area of the habits worn by the two saintly abbots on either side. A number of Netherlandish pipeclay statuettes of the Virgin display a treatment of the drapery comparable to that encountered in the relief. These small-scale reproduction sculptures – traditionally associated with Utrecht, though they were also produced elsewhere – were dispersed throughout the Low Countries. In the present relief, the Virgin shares the same kind of elegantly arching pose of the pipeclay Madonnas, including the ornate execution of the crown.¹⁸¹⁸See for example: J.W. Steyaert et al., Late Gothic Sculpture: The Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Ghent (Museum of Fine Arts) 1994, nos. 88, 89. Another element is the socle accompanying some of these figures, furnished with gothic-arched niches that frame diminutive figures of prophets in a manner quite similar to those in the tabernacle relief’s predella.

In summary, formal and stylistic arguments regarding the tabernacle relief point to a sculptor from the Southern Netherlands, most likely active in one of the major sculpture centres in Brabant (Brussels, Mechelen and Antwerp), with a date of production circa 1510-20.¹⁹¹⁹Notably, a panel consisting of specialists from both the Netherlands and Belgium and consulted by Haarsma, arrived at diametrically opposed conclusions regarding the tabernacle relief’s origin, see E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 7-16 and appendix 1. The relief would have been made for a Cistercian monastery in this area, perhaps under the influence of ideologies emanating from the university of Leuven.²⁰²⁰E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht), pp. 85, 86 describes the specific iconography with its sacramental approach to the Eucharist as a sign of theological innovation under the influence of factors such as the Modern Devotion and the ideology developed at the university of Leuven in the early 16th century. Within the Cistercian order, the ideas of the Devotio Moderna were adopted by the monasteries of the Congregation of Sibculo. Nevertheless, it is improbable that the relief was carved for one of the monasteries, as it was precisely these monasteries that had abandoned the function of abbott as the abbey’s head. The presence of the two saintly abbots appearing in this relief is therefore disconsonant. Haarsma ultimately concludes that this work is therefore more likely to have been produced under the influence of Leuven.

Frits Scholten, 2024

‘Keuze uit de aanwinsten’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 34 (1986), pp. 189-200, esp. p. 189 and fig. 1; E. Haarsma, Een Laat-Gotisch gebeeldhouwd reliëf: een unicum van excellente kwaliteit. Aanwinst van het Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RBK 1985/41, 1989 (unpublished thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht); ‘Recent Acquisitions at the Department of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Supplement’, The Burlington Magazine 132 (1990), pp. 443-48, esp. p. 444, no. 3; H. van Os et al., Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum 1400-1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2000, no. 27; F. Scholten (ed.), 1100-1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2015, no. 52.

F. Scholten, 2024, 'anonymous, Crowning Element of a Tabernacle, with the Virgin and Child flanked by Sts Benedict and Bernard of Clairvaux, Southern Netherlands, 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.197331