A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

Why the eyes of the figures in the Elsloo group should have been marked is not yet known, since it is very difficult to determine whether the sculptures were originally polychromed or not. 30 If polychromed, the explanation may lie in the chronology of the work and the collaboration between the sculptor and the polychromer. If the sculptor was the principal contractor he would have dealt directly with the patron who commissioned the w ork. 31 H e would have had to take into account exactly whereabouts in the church the patron intended his statue to stand, for this, together with the iconography, determined the direction of the figure’s gaze and would affect its impact on the beholder. It may be that when the sculptor had finished his part of the work he marked the eyes to indicate to the polychromer the exact direction in which the figure was to look. Traceological Research The marks left on a sculpture by woodworking tools can provide important information about the work’s creator and his carving practice. Workbench clamps were forged by hand, thus each was probably uni que. 32 Th e traces left by a particular clamp can therefore be seen as the fingerprints of a particular workshop. In the course of the present research project we looked for repeated distances between two clamp marks. Because in each case observed this kind of mark is apparently pyramidal in shape and the marks vary in depth we elected to measure the distance between the mid-points of two related ma rks. 33 From these results we calculated the average distance to reduce the standard deviation, which allowed us to establish the width of the workbench clamp. Previous research on this topic has proved to be success ful. 34 Most of the large sculptures in the group studied by the KIK-IRPA team were probably carved while suspended horizontally on a workbench, since their weight and dimensions would have made them difficult to manipulate by hand while carving was in progress. Before the actual carving started a hole was drilled into the cut ends of the log to allow it to be fixed between metal or wooden spindles projecting from the uprights at either end of the bench. An additional metal pin was driven into the end of the log that was going to be the base of the statue to keep it in place and prevent it from rotating during carving. If it did have to be rotated, the metal pin was withdrawn and the sculpture was turned to the required position then secured by reinserting the pin. The marks left by such a system can easily be recognised. On the bottom, the holes made by the metal pin can be found concentric to the hole made for the spindle. An example is the Virgin of the Ellikom Calvary (fig. 1 0.9). 35 Evidence of a different workbench type occurs on the Virgin and Child and the St Lucy in Siersdorf. These sculptures were suspended between a spindle at the top and a two-pronged pin at the bott om. 36 In contrast to the previous type of bench, where a metal pin was inserted to prevent rotation during carving, here it was the two-pronged pin itself that was fixed. A third type of workbench appears to have been used mainly for small sculptures, which can be easily lifted and manipulated by hand during ­carving. The backs of the figures that were evidently produced using this system are finished less elaborately or not at all. The sculpture was carved as it lay on its 10.8 a 10.8 b 10.8 c Fig. 10.8 Finishing of the irises and pupils a Apostle Simon, Neeroeteren, St Lambert’s Church, engraved irises b St Lawrence, Bocholt, St Lawrence’s Church, stained pupils and irises c St Roch, Neeroeteren, St Lambert’s Church, engraved and stained irises and pupils