A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

Notes 1 S ee Vincent Cattersel, article 13 in this volume. 2 S int-Truiden 1990: cat. no. 60. 3 O n this specific iconography, see Guillot de Suduiraut 1998: 10-17. 4 S int-Truiden 1990: cat. no. 56. 5 T he sculpture is made from a single block o f oak with some added parts (the points of the crescent moon, the Child’s left arm and right hand). 6 The statue was studied and restored at the KIK-IRPA in 1968-1969 after an exhibition and was given a check-up in 1971. See KIK-IRPA file 1967.00636. 7 The remarkable polychromy of this statue has been attracting the attention of schol- ars since the nineteenth century, as shown in Helbig 1874-1876: 244-245. 8 S ee Jana Sanyova and Cécile Glaude, article 9 in this volume. 9 I n contemporary sculpture from Brussels and Mechelen are some examples of polychromers’ signatures in the form of initials separated by a sign. The mono- gram I*T is a good example. It appears on the bases of some statuettes carved in Mechelen and polychromed in Brussels. Initials separated by a sign are also found on the Veckholm Altarpiece (J&F) and on the bases of statuettes carved and polychromed in Mechelen (I-S, J-E, B-P). See Van Doorslaer 1933: 173-175; Leuven 1971: 315; Guillot de Suduiraut 2001: 23, fig. 7; 108-110, no. 16; Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 110, 517-519, no. 66. 10 A large area of loss in the Virgin’s face has been retouched. It comprises half of the left cheek, the whole zone around the chin up to the mouth, and a central narrow band on the right cheek. The left arm and hand of the Child have also been largely retouched. 11 S int-Truiden 1990: cat. no. 56. 12 O n the St Remaclus in Spa, see Didier, Otjacques-Dustin and Sanyova 1995  and Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 484-487, no. 59. On the St Marcoul (?) in Liège, see Namur 1995: 73-76; Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 446-451, no. 50 and M ichel Lefftz, article 16 in this volume. 13 ‘ A pplied brocade’ is the name given to a cast relief technique used by ­ polychromers to imitate all kinds of textiles. The individual brocades are prefabricated, made in a mould into which a design is incised. A sheet of tin foil is tamped down into the mould. A fill material generally containing wax, resin and pigment is then spread over the tin foil to fill up the hollows and reinforce the relief. The brocades are then lifted from the mould and trimmed. Finally they are gilded and painted, either before or after they are adhered to the surface for which they are destined. See Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 65-66. 14 T he study was executed by Stijn Lenaerts, intern at the KIK-IRPA in 2010-2011. See KIK-IRPA file 2010.10545. 15 O n the Virgin and Child in Tongeren, see Otjacques-Dustin et al. 1999-2000; Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 488-491, no. 60. On the Virgin and Child in the Brussels museum, see ibid.: 328-329, n o. 27. 16 O n the Virgin and Child in St Martin’s Church, see ibid.: 452-453, no. 51. For the Virgin and Child in the Grand Curtius Museum, see KIK-IRPA object no. 10051810. 17 T he statue is 94.5 cm high. Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 438-441, no. 48. 18 O n the visual impact of gilding and applied brocades on sculptures, see chapter seven ‘The Polychromer’s Choice. The Selection and Location of Applied Brocade on the Work of Art’ in Geelen and Steyaert 2011: 120-129. 19 S erck-Dewaide, Otjacques-Dustin and Serck 1980-1981. Other examples of the Immaculate Virgin wearing a blue gown, are the Virgin carved by Henrick Douwerman before 1520 in St Urban’s Church in Birgden (Aachen 1996: 222-227, no. 29) and the Virgin in the Epitaph of Friedrich Gerung from 1495 i n Nuremberg. 20 G eelen and Steyaert 2011: 492-495, no. 61. 21 S ee KIK-IRPA object no . 10130132. This polychromy seems to be a first overpaint. Further observations are necessary to document it. 22 M aastricht 2000: 131-135, no. 3. 23 A achen 1996: 277-280, no. 44. 24 B onn 1967: 149-150, no. 37. 25 A n example is the binding of a manu- s cript from the Jardinet Abbey (Namur, Bibliothèque de la Société archéologique, fonds de la ville de Namur, ms. 52). Here, the star is 8 mm in diameter. S ee Opsomer 2001. 26 G eelen and Steyaert 2011: 126, 273. 27 I bid.: 580-583, no. S5. 28 I bid.: 127-128; KIK-IRPA object no. 40001361. 29 G uillot de Suduiraut 2001: 112-122, no. 17, and in particular the figure on p. 58: Nicodemus in the Lamentation. 30 D e Boodt et al. 1999: pl. 8. 31 G uillot de Suduiraut 2001: 151-154, esp. p. 154, nos. 32-33. 32 T he altarpiece dated around 1525-1530 was restored in the KIK-IRPA’s polychromed wood sculpture workshop in 2003. See KIK-IRPA object no . 20008842. 33 B uyle and Vanthillo 2000: 190-191; De Boodt, Haneca and Cuvelier 2005: 165-169; Geelen and ­ Steyaert 2011: 364-367, no. 34. 34 T he Opitter altarpiece was restored in the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century. In both cases the losses in the original polychromy were retouched, copying the original zones that were still visible. See KIK- IPRA files 1992.04897 and 1993.05221. 35 S ee KIK-IRPA object no. 20008618. 36 D e Boodt et al. 1999: pl. 13 (Crucifixion and Swoon of the Virgin). 37 H uysmans and De Boodt 2000: 178-179. 38 A n inventory of these statuettes was drawn up by the KIK-IRPA between 2005 and 2008. Fanny Cayron, Delphine Steyaert and Ingrid Geelen have listed some 630 statuettes dated between 1500 and 1540. A publication is currently being completed. One of the aims of the study is to try to understand how sculptors and polychromers collaborated. 39 G eelen and Steyaert 2011: 110, 210-216, no. 6; 332-335, no. 28; 442-445, no. 49; 516-521, no. 66. 40 S ee n. 31.