A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

117 Famke Peters and Vincent Cattersel 5 116 Fig. 5.30 Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon, Gerdingen, Church of Our Lady Fig. 5.31 Virgin and Child, Genk, Openluchtmuseum Bokrijk, inv. B59.1017 The next case is more complex because the relationship between the sculptures could not be confirmed by dendrochronological analysis or the measurement of workbench marks, so their study was based purely on visual examination and comparison. The faces of the St Barbara from Reppel and the figures of the Virgin and Child from Bocholt, Gerdingen and Erpekom (the latter now in the Openluchtmuseum Bokrijk) show similarities (figs. 5.28-5.31), such as the exaggerated broadening towards the temples, the projecting lower lip and the deeply indented and slightly lifted corners of the pursed mouth, the thin, straight nose with slightly lifted nostrils and the unnatural distance between the nose and the upper lip. Their hands with their tapering curved and out- spread fingers and shorter and broader thumbs also look very similar, though damage, deterioration, repairs and replacements sometimes make this difficult to judge. They differ from the long, bony fingers of some other Elsloo works, such as those in the Neeroeteren-Siersdorf group, whose thumbs (when and if 5.30 5.31