WILLEM KERRICX | STUDY FOR A PILLAR STATUE OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD CROWNED BY ANGELS

Though formerly attributed to Willem Ignatius Kerricx (Antwerp 1682-1745), this grand study for a sculptural group seems more characteristic of the style of that artist's father, Willem Kerricx the Elder. It is particularly close to a very similarly conceived study for a statue of Christ as Salvator Mundi, in the Van Herck Collection at the Stedelijk Prentenkabinet, Antwerp.¹ Kerricx was a leading figure in the artistic life of late 17th and early 18th-century Antwerp, holding offices that included dean of the Guild of Saint Luke, and Church Warden of St. Walburga's. His sculptural works are to be found in many of the region's churches.

1. See 17th and 18th Century Drawings, The Van Herck Collection, Belgium, King Baudouin Foundation, n.d., pp. 128-9, no. 38