A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

Another characteristic particular to the Kalkar school of carving, most typically for Henrick Douwerman, was the addition of pieces of wood to the sculpture’s main volume. Throughout Douwerman’s production and in some sculptures by Henrick van Holt, small to minute wooden dowels can be seen that secure strands of h air, 27 co mponents of the body such as fingers or ha nds, 28 sections of the drap ery, 29 an d decorative costume details such as tassels, parts of belts, or sashes. For example, two pieces of the shoulder and the extremity of curls were carved separately and doweled onto the right shoulder of the St John the Baptist in St Nicholas’s Church in Kal kar. 30 In some instances, the added elements have the appearance of afterthoughts; while they could technically have been carved within the original diameter of the log of wood, they were instead added separately. The New York St Roch has such an append- age, two elements of drapery placed to form the exposed corner of the saint’s doublet: a triangular piece (3 ≈ 3  cm) and a trapezoidal piece (c . 9 ≈ 3  cm) ( fig. 15.12). These small pieces of carved oak were attached to the main body of the sculpture by two minuscule wooden dowels or pegs (2 mm in diameter). In this case, there is no evidence indicating whether the small auxiliary ­ elements were a fortuitous repair by the sculptor or a regular carving pract ice. 31 For the St Roch in the Tours museum, apart from the added wings on the angel and wooden repair-wedges, no small appendages were detected. Finally, a close examination of the tool marks might contribute to the defi- nition of a workshop. The Metropolitan Museum’s St Roch was originally painted in several colo urs. 32 In its present state the work’s lack of polychromy allows us to see the sculptor’s interest in a surface characterised by a variety of texture and play of light similar to that of the finished wood surfaces evidenced on late-Gothic sculptures from the Lower Rhine region. Like much of Kalkar’s artistic production, whether polychromed or monochro me, 33 th e New York St Roch shows small decorative touches to the surface of the wood, elements of embellishment that affirm the sculptor’s delight in further defining the sculptural form not only by painted decorations, but also by detailed surface carving. Stippling carved with the point of a knife gives texture to the dog’s collar, serpentine incisions intermittently spaced by dots decorate the square neckline of the saint’s jacket, and large zigzag patterns ( Tremolierung ) evoke grass on the sculpture’s base. Such details in carving would have emerged through the thin layers of polychromy. The surface of the Tours St Roch is more severely deteriorated. Of all the tool marks that may once have been present, only Tremolierung remains, on the sculpture’s base and the saint’s hat. Numerous aspects of the technical features of the Metropolitan Museum’s St Roch and details of its carving seem to offer resemblance to the methods found in the school of wood carvers flourishing in the region of Kalkar in the early decades of the sixteenth century. However, the carving of the ­ Metropolitan Museum’s St Roch appears less accomplished than many ­ sculptures from this artistic centre and is perhaps to be attributed to the Lower Rhine region in a broader sense of the term. Some technical details previously selected to characterise similarities with the Kalkar workshop seem to be present in a wider circle of influence, including the carving production by workshops in the Elsloo group. Comparison with the Tours St Roch Fig. 15.12 New York St Roch, elements added onto the saint’s shoulder 15.12