Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is flat and slightly worked. There is a large mortise on the underside. Remnants of blue polychromy and gilding have been found on the robe.

Worm-eaten and decayed. The Virgin’s left hand and parts of her head and hair are missing, as are the infant Christ’s hands, right leg and head. In 1905, circular gold decorations (‘compasses’) could still be seen against a blue background on the hem of the Virgin’s robe.

…; found in the Oude Kerk, Soest, with several other objects (BK-NM-12006-1 to -19), 1905;¹¹W. Vogelsang, ‘Vondst te Soest’, Bulletin van de Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 4 (1905), pp. 187-96, pp. 190-91; J. Kalf, ‘Een belangrijke vondst’, Het huis, oud en nieuw. Maandelijks prentenboek gewijd aan huis, inrichting, bouw- en sierkunst 3 (1905), pp. 289-301. donated by the municipality of Soest to the museum, 1907; on loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1909-61

Object number: BK-NM-12006-1

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.²²These objects have been donated to the Rijksmuseum in 1907, see inv. nos. BK-NM-12006-1 to -19. 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.³³K. Broekhuijsen-Kruijer, ‘Het Passieretabel uit Soest’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 32 (1984), pp. 3-16, esp. p. 3.

Among the figures was the present standing Virgin and Child and a Virgin and Child with St Anne (BK-NM-12006-10). Despite the very poor condition of the statues, Vogelsang noticed as soon as they were found that the features of the Virgins in both figures were very similar.⁴⁴W. Vogelsang, ‘Vondst te Soest’, Bulletin van de Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 4 (1905), pp. 187-96, esp. pp. 190-91.

He described the analogous treatment of the lower lip, the corners of the mouth and the eyes of the two Virgins. To this can be added the observation that they have the same oval face, with half-closed eyes, broad nostrils and wide-springing hair flowing beside the temples and over the shoulders in thick tresses. The women wear similar dresses with round necks and flat collars. On the basis of these parallels the figures can be attributed to the same workshop.

The youthful faces of the two Virgins and the elegant pose of the standing Virgin and Child are akin to fifteenth-century examples from the city of Utrecht,⁵⁵Inv. nos. ABM bh337, ABM bh295, ABM bs603a and ABM bs603b in the collection of Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, are comparable, for instance. See M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, c. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 187-88, 213, 219-20. the most important centre of sculpture in the Bishopric of Utrecht, of which the town of Soest was also a part. Specifically, they are related to a group of Utrecht statues that are dated to around 1500 and regarded as quite conservative (see also BK-NM-11769).⁶⁶See M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 264 and nos. 43-46. This group includes two carvings of the Virgin and Child with St Anne in Museum Catharijneconvent, which are constructed almost identically to the Soest example.⁷⁷Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, inv. nos. ABM bh340 and ABM bh339, see M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, c. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 225-26; M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 263, no. 45 (image on the right). The folds of their garments, on the other hand, are more fluid and complex. This suggests that the two figures from Soest were made somewhat earlier, around 1490 – a supposition supported by the tight bodices, the women’s round, rather than square, necklines, and the straight fluted folds of Mary’s underdress in the standing Virgin and Child.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 22, with earlier literature; A. de Rijk, ‘Laat-middeleeuwse heiligenbeelden uit het Gooi’, Bulletin Stichting Oude Hollandse Kerken 39 (1994), pp. 15-24, esp. p. 22; B. Nederveen, Soest, tussen Amersfoort en Utrecht. Een studie naar de herkomst van de laatgotische sculptuur uit de Hervormde Kerk te Soest, Amsterdam 1999 (unpub. thesis University of Amsterdam), pp. 9-10, 91-92; J.H.M. Hilhorst and J.G.M. Hilhorst, Soest, Hees en De Birkt. Van de achtste tot de zeventiende eeuw, Hilversum 2001, p. 239

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Virgin and Child, Utrecht, c. 1490', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200115806