South Netherlandish or North French, circa 1360-1390

Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, In Gotischer Gesellschaft. Spätmittelalterliche Skulpturen aus einer niederländischen Privatsammlung, 1998

U. Schneider and D. Preising, In Gotischer Gesellschaft. Spätmittelalterliche Skulpturen aus einer niederländischen Privatsammlung, exh. cat. Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, Aachen, 1998, pp. 123-4, no. 54

Overall the condition of the wood is good with wear and some dirt to the surface consistent with age. A later layer of polychromy has been removed, revealing the earlier polychromy underneath. There are areas of loss to the polychromy throughout, including in the face. The proper right forearm and a former attribute in the cloaked proper left hand are lost. There are a few further losses, notably to the hair at the back, and the edges of the folds of drapery at both arms and around the bottom. Some of these may be due to past worming, of which there is evidence at the proper left side at the back. There is some stable splitting to the wood, consistent with the material, notably at the proper right shoulder at the back, where there is a naturally occurring knot in the wood. There are a few minor abrasions, including to the sides of the hair and to the nose. There is a hole to the top of the head.
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Henny Otto Goldschmidt dated the birth of his collection to 12 May 1962, when he purchased a Late Gothic wood carving of the Pietà at the saleroom Mak van Waay in Amsterdam for 2000 guilders on a whim. The emotional power of this single purchase sparked a love affair with Gothic sculpture that would lead to one of the foremost collections of Brabantine and Rhenish carvings amassed in the second half of the 20^th century. Following their first purchase, Professor Goldschmidt and his wife educated themselves and became thoroughly familiar with the market, museum curators, and academics. Later in life the Goldschmidts keenly shared their calculated collecting ethos, including in two exhibitions in Aachen and Enschede (op.cit.), with gifts to the Rijksmuseum, and through Professor Goldschmidt’s book Hemelse beelden. Het verzamelen van kunst.

Since it was exhibited in the Goldschmidt exhibition in Aachen in 1998, the present sculpture has been freed of a later layer of polychromy, which has revealed its extraordinary finesse and endearing expression. Typical French High-Gothic features such as the pronounced S-curve of the body, modest smile and youthful features aside, it compares closely to a group of figures from retables made towards the end of the 14^th century in the Southern Netherlands including a female saint in the Rijksmuseum illustrated by Leeuwenberg (op.cit.). The rounded slot formed by the drapery in the proper left hand and a flattened section on the top of the head suggests that the figure carried a wheel and wore a crown, identifying her as Saint Catherine.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Leeuwenberg, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, Den Haag/ Amsterdam, 1973, p. 5, no. 5