Workshop of Willem van den Broecke, called Paludanus

Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1981, lot 321;

Where acquired by the present owner, private collection, the Netherlands

Also known by his latinised name, Guglielmus Paludanus, Willem was the son of the Malines-based painter Hendrik van den Broecke. Upon settling in Antwerp, probably following an undocumented journey to Italy around 1555–57 — where he absorbed the artistic vocabulary of the Ancient and Renaissance sculpture — Paludanus was registered as a free master in the Guild of Saint Luke. He became one of the leading representatives of Northern Mannerist sculpture, together with Jacques du Broeucq, Jean Mone and Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, whose highly ornamental style profoundly influenced his œuvre. The flourishing workshop he established in Antwerp is reputed to have employed a large number of apprentices, many of them likewise originating from Mechelen, in order to meet the growing demand for high-quality alabaster reliefs.

Typical of Paludanus’ style, the illusion of depth is achieved through a fluid transition from the low-relief technique, known as stiacciato, used for the architectural landscape in the background, to the figures in the foreground carved in very high relief — as seen here in the two soldiers terrified by the apparition of Christ, recoiling while shielding themselves behind their shields. Another hallmark of Paludanus’ workshop is a pronounced taste for decorative detail, particularly evident in the richly adorned cuirasses of the soldiers, which constitute a veritable display of the Classical ornamental vocabulary.

The present composition may be compared with an alabaster relief of the same subject belonging to a series of five, carved by Paludanus circa 1560, in the Maximilianmuseum, Augsburg (see Lipińska, op. cit., p. 84, fig. 60). Another closely related relief by the same sculptor, executed circa 1565, is in the Rijksmuseum, on loan from the Museum Catharijneconvent (inv. BK-BR-947-J; see. ibid., p. 89, fig. 69), while a further version, dating from circa 1568–72, appears on the pulpit of Lübeck Cathedral (see ibid., pp. 85–86, fig. 65).

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Lipińska, Moving Sculptures: Southern Netherlandish Alabasters from the 16th to 17th Centuries in Central and Northern Europe, Leiden, 2015, pp. 84-89; M. Debaene (ed.), Alabaster Sculpture in Europe 1300-1650, exh. cat. M-Museum, Leuven, 2022, p. 199, no. 67 (for the relief in the Rijksmuseum)