A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

eyebrows and a dimpled and rather protruding chin. The bearded men tend to have sunken cheeks, prominent cheekbones, heavy and sharply carved eye- brows, thick curly hair and abundant curling and sometimes jutting beards ( figs. 5.4-5.5). There are deep furrows on either side of the nose, crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes and corrugations on the brow. The beardless male fig- ures tend to have typical sharp square jaws and some of them are jug-eared ( figs. 5.6-5.7). In the representation of the crucified Christ certain features recur, such as elongated limbs with muscles and veins carved in relief, a bulg- ing belly with a single or double skin fold above, a high rib cage, sunken cheeks and accentuated cheekbones, one or two long locks of hair hanging over the shoulders, a heavy crown of thorns, the specific way in which the feet are placed one over the other and the skin pushed up by the nail ( figs. 6.2-6.5, 6.7-6.12) . Other elements that occur quite frequently in Elsloo figures are long, bony and curved fingers, which are often slipped into a book (fig. 5.8), dimples in the Virgin’s or the Christ Child’s cheeks (fig. 5.9) or pits in the knees and elbows of the naked Child and in the figures’ hands and feet. Besides these common stylistic features, compositional similarities can also be seen. Some sculptures of the Virgin and Child show resemblances in the way the Christ Child sits or lies in his mother’s arms , as exemplified by the sculptures in th e Churc h of St John the Baptist in Siersdorf (fig. 5.16) and in a private collect ion 1 ( fi g. 5.10), and the figures at the choir side of the Marianums in Neeroeteren and Horst (figs. 5.1 5, 1.6), a s well as the Virgin and Child in the Collegium Augustinianum in Gaesdonck (fig. 1.5) . An entire composition is never repeated, however, unlike certain examples from the sculptural production of the circle of the somewhat older wood- carver Arnt van Kal kar or Ja n van Steffeswert, a contemporary of the ­‘Master of Elsloo’, for exam ple. 2 Despite these common characteristics, the oeuvre attributed to the Master of Elsloo is distinctly diverse, with a great variation in iconography, function and dimension. It encompasses not only monumental Marianums, near life- size calvary groups and large figures of saints, but also statuettes, altarpiece fragments and reliquaries. Moreover, the works are just as diverse in execution and style. For instance, while some figures are strikingly dynamic, such as two apostles in Utrecht’s Museum Catharijneconvent (figs . 1.17b, 1.17d) , others appear rather static, like certain figures in the Siersdorf church (fig. 12.1) . Some sculptures are richly decorated, again like those in Siersdorf, while others are more modest, such as the St Catherine in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Crucified Christ in the Ellikom church exemplifies the special care taken in rendering anatomy in certain figures (fig. 13.1) , while the deep and elaborate carving of certain elements is evident in the figures from the Siersdorf ‘rood screen’, for example (figs. 1.23c-d) . Furthermore, the same ­ stylistic formulas have been used in many different ways, as can be seen in the differences in rendering faces, hair and drapery, to mention but three. Finally, it often occurs that figures correspond in certain respects, yet differ in others. This also means that some sculptures may have little in common or show little resemblance to the key work of the Elsloo oeuvre, the St Anne with the Virgin and Child in St Augustine’s Church in Elsloo (fig. 1.1) . 5.8 5.9 5.10 Fig. 5.8 St Anne with the Virgin and Child, Maaseik, St Catherine’s Church, detail Fig. 5.9 St Anne with the Virgin and Child, Sint-Truiden, Provinciaal Museum Begijnhofkerk, inv. ST/90/001, detail Fig. 5.10 Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon, private collection, detail Fig. 5.11 Christ the Saviour, Neeroeteren, St Lambert’s Church Fig. 5.12 St John the Baptist, Siersdorf, Church of St John the Baptist