SOUTHERN NETHERLANDISH, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

This very populair composition probably finds its source in the delicately sculpted female figures by the famous early baroque artist Frans du Quesnoy (1597-1643), notably the marble statue of St. Susanna in the church of St. Maria di Loreto in Rome. This particular type of female figure was immediately adapted by the Antwerp and Malines schools for the composition of the Madonna Immaculata. Though not signed, the here illustrated sculpture shows enough details and characteristics to point in the direction of the Antwerp master Ludovicus Willemssens (1630-1702). The delicate modelling of the face of the Madonna, the vivid plastic qualities in the torso of the Christ Child and the severe elongation of the entire sculpture are strongly reminiscent of the statues that Willemssens carved for the church in Wouw in the province of North-Brabant, the Netherlands. (De Beeldhouwkunst in de eeuw van Rubens, Brussel, 1977, pp. 286-294)

See illustration