WORKSHOP OF ADRIAEN VAN WESEL (CIRCA 1415- CIRCA 1490), NETHERLANDISH, UTRECHT, CIRCA 1480 | ANGEL WITH THE COLUMN

This Angel with the Column finds close stylistic parallels in the oeuvre of the leading late 15th-century sculptor in Utrecht, Adriaen van Wesel. In particular, it relates to two pairs of candle-bearing Angels, one in the parish church of Ramsdorf (Karrenbrock, op. cit., figs. 1-4) and another in the parish church of Südlohn (ibid., figs. 5-8). Compare the child-like features with almond-shaped eyes and pursed lips, the thick, swirling strands of hair, as well as the Angels' dress and drapery scheme, with long, vertical folds gathered at the waist. Though the present figure's face and hair are somewhat less finely rendered than in the Ramsdorf and Südlohn angels, an attribution to Van Wesel's workshop is plausible, making this a rare surviving sculpture linked to this Utrecht master. 

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Karrenbrock, 'Unbekannte Werke des Utrechter Bildhauers Adriaen van Wesel, in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, vol. 57, no. 3, Kunstgeschichte und Gegenwart: 23 Beiträge für Georg Kaufmann zum 70. Geburtstag, 1994, pp. 336-346; D. Preising and M. Rief (eds.), Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, 1430-1530, exh. cat. Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht and Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen, 2012, pp. 134-136, fig. 10.5

Sotheby's is grateful to Dr. Reinhard Karrenbrock for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.