Sculpture

Calvary Virgin Tournai

Description

No traces of polychromy, small repairs to side of veil on right, right hand and tips of some fingers on left replaced. Overall excellent condition.

Commentary

There are three documented figures that are very closely associated with the present mourning Virgin. The first one, in situ in Saint-Pancrace in Thumaide (Hainaut Belgium, see b/w picture below) is almost identical in every detail, sharing exactly the same pose and drapery (Steyaert 1994, no 10) and is probably therefore from the same date and indeed the same atelier; the second, in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore which shares the style and volume of drapery but has a pose where the hands are clasped, besides retaining some of the polychromy (Steyaert 1994, ill. 31), is probably the finest of this type. The third one, the calvary group in Harchies (d’Altena et Mambour, 1972, p.24) seems to be a later (early 16th c.) interpretation of the same model according to Steyaert. 
The very characteristic and movemented drapery is a very good example of the direct influence on local sculpture for most of the 15th century of the great pictorial tradition of Tournai, ie. the works of Robert Campin and Rogier Van der Weyden.

Provenance

Private collection, France.

Literature

De Borchgrave D’Altena, J. et Mambour, Josée; La Passion dans la sculpture en Hainaut de 1400 a 1700. Mons 1971, 1972, 1974.

Steyaert, John W. Late Gothic Sculpture, Ludion Press, Ghent 1994