Lot Essay
In publishing the present piece, Vanderbrugge (loc. cit.) referred back to a number of other scholarly contributions dating from the previous ten years or so that have fleshed out our conception of this sculptor from Malines. The present Pietà is an unusually imposing but otherwise entirely characteristic example of his work, and the attribution is confirmed by the initials inscribed on the back of the Virgin's mantle.
The subject of the Pietà, whether with the dead Christ stretched out across His mother's lap or - as here - lying on the ground and partially supported by her, was extremely popular from the fifteenth century onwards. In Vander Veken's treatment a tension is established between the tranquil surrender of Christ, and the subdued but nevertheless more active pose of the Virgin. In spite of the considerable scale of the group, the carving of such details as the ringlets of hair and drapery folds displays considerable virtuosity.
The subject of the Pietà, whether with the dead Christ stretched out across His mother's lap or - as here - lying on the ground and partially supported by her, was extremely popular from the fifteenth century onwards. In Vander Veken's treatment a tension is established between the tranquil surrender of Christ, and the subdued but nevertheless more active pose of the Virgin. In spite of the considerable scale of the group, the carving of such details as the ringlets of hair and drapery folds displays considerable virtuosity.