Prophet, from a Tree of Jesse

Carved in relief and originally polychromed. A piece of wood has been attached to the reverse with nails at the level of the left arm, in order to thicken the woodblock. Three holes, discernible in front and emerging at the side, indicate where nails were used to secure the fragment to the caisse. Dendrochronological analysis has pointed out that the outermost growth ring in the main wood block dates to the year 1506. Due to the absence of sapwood it is not possible to give a more specific estimate felling date of the tree than ‘after 1512’. The timber originates from the eastern Baltic region (likely from the northwest of current Lithuania).

A section of the banderole is missing, just as the foremost piece of the bottom. The fingers on the left hand are damaged.A section of the banderole is missing, just as the foremost piece of the bottom. The fingers on the left hand are damaged.

…; from the dealer J.J. Boas Berg, Amsterdam, together with three other sculptures (BK-NM-11395-A and -C and BK-NM-11396) for a total of fl. 750,¹¹BK-NM-11396 was de-accessioned in 1923. to the museum, 1899; on loan to the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst, Uden, 2005-12

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-11395-B

These prophets (for the other prophet, see BK-NM-11395-A) originally belonged to a Tree of Jesse in an Antwerp retable. This genealogical representation is a fairly literal visualization of the prophecy of Isaiah (II-1): ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots’. Seated on his throne, the slumbering figure of Jesse is surrounded by several prophets (typically four). Growing from his breast is a trunk that splits into various branches. Sitting on each of the branches are the kings of Israel, Christ’s forebears, including King David with his harp. Seated on the highest branch is the enthroned figure of the Virgin with the Christ Child. In the late Middle Ages, emphasis was increasingly placed on the role of the Holy Virgin (virgo) in her son’s redemption work, with descriptions often referring to her as the most beautiful blossom or twig (virga) on Jesse’s family tree.

The Tree of Jesse is a regular theme in Antwerp retables starting from the early sixteenth century on.²²L.F. Jacobs, Early Netherlandish Carved Altarpieces 1380-1550: Medieval Mass Marketing, Cambridge 1998, pp. 43-46. Figures of Jesse in Passion altars generally appear in the bottom register of the middle compartment,³³For example, the Antwerp Passion altars of Zukowo (Poland) and Västerlofsta (Sweden), see H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, no. 10 and fig. 11a. accompanied by prophets. Emerging from his chest is the trunk of the tree, from which the branches rise up via the concave frames that flank the scene of the Crucifixion in the central bay. On Marian retables, however, the slumbering Jesse and the prophets are sometimes located in the central section of the altarpiece.⁴⁴For example, the Antwerp Marian retables in Västerås and Bocholt, see KIK-IRPA, object nos. 40000667 and 53414; H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, nos. 8 and 12. Preserved in the Rijksmuseum collection is a second pair of prophets originating from another Antwerp retable (BK-NM-2475 and -2477).

Woodcarvers freely indulged their fantasy when it came to depicting the exotic, often Asian-inspired appearance of these prophet figures alongside Jesse, often resulting in grotesque or even humorous exaggerations.⁵⁵Four of the most exquisite and largest Antwerp examples are preserved at the Museum Schnütgen (Cologne), inv. nos. A.870 to A.873, see H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1. no. 34. As was customary, their accompanying banderoles bore inscriptions regarding the predictions they made regarding Christ’s and the Virgin’s role in the redemption of mankind. In the case of the present figures, both of which are branded with the Antwerp hand, almost all of the polychromy has been lost, including the inscriptions on the banderoles.

The clothing of these two prophets is a fantastical mixture of Eastern and Western liturgical vestments: a surplice with widely expanding sleeves, worn beneath a cloak and over a kind of alb. The headdress of the left-hand prophet (BK-NM-11395-A) constitutes a mitre wrapped in a turban, of which the ends fall down over the shoulders; the turban of the right-hand prophet (shown here) terminates in a draping cloth adorned with fringe. Figures of prophets attired in comparable raiment and displaying stylistically similar traits can be observed on the Antwerp Passion altarpiece in Zukowo (Poland) that dates from circa 1520-25.⁶⁶H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, no. 10.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 154, with earlier literature

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Prophet, from a Tree of Jesse, Antwerp, c. 1520 - c. 1525', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24434