Antwerp carved wooden sculpture

Origin : Antwerp
Period : 15th century


Height : 47 cm
Width : 16 cm
Depth :10 cm

Oak wood
Good state of preservation

Flemish workshops hold a special place in 15th-century statuary. The productions of workshops located in Flanders, but also in Brabant and the Meuse region, are called Flemish. Despite inevitable distinctions, these workshops nevertheless possessed a unity of spirit sufficient to establish themselves as a whole in the face of French or German influences. Their geographical location allowed them to assimilate these influences into a harmonious synthesis. The 15th century marked their peak, as it coincided with the decline of French Gothic art. It was Flemish sculptors who then ruled the roost in the French princely courts.
This carved oak altarpiece figure has retained some of its original polychromy.

Standing upright, with an expressive gaze, he looks upward.
The middle-aged man wears a wide-brimmed hat and a belted tunic, covered by a cloak, one side of which is held by his left hand.

His expressiveness, the physiognomy of his face with its angular nose and its beard with pronounced curls, added to the treatment of the prominent and deep pleats of his clothing, are significant of Flemish sculpture which was still Gothic.

He can likely be identified as Nicodemus or perhaps Joseph of Arimathea, although no other elements allow us to confirm this.