Modelled and fired. Originally coated with a yellow finishing layer.

The left arm and the big toe of the right foot are missing, as are some toes of the left foot. The head has broken off. Two holes have been drilled near the left armpit. Most of the yellow final coat has worn off.

…; from the dealer J. Aalderink, Amsterdam, with BK-NM-13162-A, -B and -D, fl. 100 for all four, to the museum, 1924

Object number: BK-NM-13162-C

These four seated, allegorical children represent the Four Seasons. Spring (BK-NM-13162-A) is portrayed as a girl with a garland of flowers, Summer (BK-NM-13162-B) as a girl with a cornucopia filled with fruits, Autumn (shown here) as a boy with a sheaf of corn, and Winter (BK-NM-13162-D) as a boy warming his hands over a brazier and with a blanket draped over his head. Judging from the rough modelling, the form of the socle and the subject matter – referring to the cycles of nature – these figures are probably bozzetti for garden sculptures to be placed, for instance, at the corners of a perron or decorating the façade of a garden pavilion or country house.

The type of infant and the overall style of the figures is so akin to sculptures by Walter Pompe (1703-1777) that the ensemble can, without a doubt, be ascribed to him. Comparable pieces as regards the rudimentary modelling, arm and leg positions, physical types, physiognomy, hairstyle and facial expressions are the terracottas, signed and dated by Pompe, of Clytemnestra and Castor (1770),¹¹Brussels, Art and History Museum, inv. nos. 596 and 597, see C. Van Herck, ‘Walter Pompe en zijn werk’, Antwerpen’s Oudheidkundige Kring 11 (1935), pp. 145-86, esp. no. 152 and KIK-IRPA object nos. 20059006 and 20059007. Jube and Ganymede (1771 and 1772),²²C. Van Herck, ‘Walter Pompe en zijn werk’, Antwerpen’s Oudheidkundige Kring 11 (1935), pp. 145-86, esp. nos. 160 and 167, pl. XII. and four standing putti, also depicting the Four Seasons and originating from the sculptor’s estate.³³C. Van Herck, ‘Walter Pompe en zijn werk’, Antwerpen’s Oudheidkundige Kring 11 (1935), pp. 145-86, esp. no. 226, pl. III.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 418c, with earlier literature

B. van der Mark, 2025, 'attributed to Walter Pompe, Boy with a Sheaf of Wheat, Allegory of Autumn, from a Series of the Four Seasons, Antwerp, c. 1770', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035856