SAINT MARIE-MADELEINE in basswood carved in the...

SAINT MARIE-MADELEINE
in basswood carved in the round with slight traces of polychromy and gilding. Standing, the saint gracefully lifts the lid of the ointment jar in her left hand. Her face is harmonious, with delicately hemmed eyelids, a slightly swollen left eye, a well-defined mouth with a fleshy lower lip, and a small, round chin; she is dressed in a long, belted dress with a V-neckline and a cloak with voluminous, broken pleats, one side of which she holds by her right forearm, the other resting on her left wrist; the veil, placed on the head with a fold, has a long flap falling to the back of the left shoulder, leaving the abundant hair with long, tightly curled locks visible behind her back; monoxyl terrace - apart from the addition of a thin sole - of naturalistic appearance in the shape of an uneven rock bearing two coats of arms probably corresponding to the sponsors. Small peg at the back of the head indicating the presence of an old nimbus or the filling in of a hole for placement on the sculptor's workbench.
Strasbourg, attributed to the Master of the Lautenbach Altarpiece, entourage of Nicolas de Leyde, circa 1470/80
Height: 55.5 cm
(very slight damage, pitting)
Provenance :
- Parish priest of the village of Roppentzwiller (Sundgau), mid-19th century, reputed to have come from Lucelle Abbey (Haut-Rhin)
- Given to his niece and kept in the family
- Charles Canus Collection, Mulhouse, 1970s
The Alsatian art historian Victor Beyer ( 2019), former curator of the Strasbourg museums, then chief curator of the Sculpture Department at the Louvre in 1974, has studied this sculpture at length. He linked it stylistically to the Saint Woman in the Berlin Staatliche Museen (Inv. 2240, fig.).
The Saint Woman and the Magdalene are extremely close to each other, and both have the same height and mounting holes at the top of the head. Perhaps they belonged to the same altarpiece intended for private devotion, as indicated by the two shields here on the base.
The Berlin sculpture has been compared on several occasions with the Dangolsheim Virgin and Child (also in the Staatliche Museen, Inv. 7055), sculpted by Nicolas Gerhaert of Leiden (circa 1420-1473). Nicolas Gerhaert de Leyde seems to be a plausible candidate, although it needs to be qualified. The artist, who received several private commissions for altarpieces, was also in contact with other renowned sculptors such as Michel Erhart (Ulm 1440 -1522), Veit Stoss (Nuremberg 1447-1533), Erasmus Grasser (Munich 1450-1515) and Michel Pacher (1435-1498). Few works by Michel Pacher are known, but a Saint Margaret in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv. 63.13.2) features a thick-edged V-neck similar to that of the Saint Magdalene.
The Female Saint has also been attributed to the Master of the Lautenbach Altarpiece, at the entrance to Renchtal, Baden. Although refuted by Victor Beyer, this possibility now seems to have been accepted. The main argument is that the sculptures in the Lautenbach altarpiece were made from basswood, unlike those by Nicolas Gerhaert of Leiden, which were made from walnut. It is therefore highly probable that the author of this remarkable and rare Mary Magdalene was an artist who worked in the workshop or in the close entourage of the great Nicolas de Leyde, who would have remained in Strasbourg after the master's departure for Vienna in 1467.
Bibliography:
- V. Beyer, "Autour du retable de Lautenbach (Bade) L'énigme d'une sainte Madeleine inconnue" in Cahiers Alsaciens d'Archéologie d'art et d'histoire, Strasbourg, Société pour la conservation des monuments historiques d'Alsace, Tome XVI, 1972, p.151- 156.
Works consulted :
- J. Chapuis, Tilman Riemenschneider, Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, National Gallery of Art Washington, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2000.
- S. Roller, Niclaus Gerhaert, Der Bildhauer des Späten Mittelalters, Liebieghaus, Skulpturen Sammlung, 2012.
- R. Recht, Un regard moderne, Nicolas de Leyde sculpteur du XVe siècle, Strasbourg, 2012, p.128, p.270-274.
[RDC: excellent overall condition, slight damage to the little finger of the right hand, to the tip of the thumb of the same hand, to the edge of the cloak on the right, to the front, to the right arm, crack at the back of the head, minor wear in certain areas of the drapery and at the nose, wood-eating insect bites all over the sculpture, has been treated].
Expert l Laurence Fligny