Carved and originally polychromed. The book contains a hole for attaching the missing wheel. Catherine’s left hand and the tail of drapery hanging over her left arm are loosely attached. The back of the head displays Tremolierung; the rest of the back is flat. There is a wrought-iron eye for attachment on the reverse.

Catherine’s crown, the attribute in her right hand (a sword?), the wheel on the book, and Maxentius’s sword and scabbard are missing. The polychromy has been removed.

…; from the dealer J.J. Boas Berg, Amsterdam, fl. 300, to the museum, 1898; on loan to the Museum Krona (formerly known as the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst), Uden , inv. no. 2128, since 1999

Object number: BK-NM-11114

St Catherine of Alexandria triumphantly tramples upon her persecutor, Emperor Maxentius. Originally there was a small wheel attached to the top of the book in Catherine’s left hand. According to legend, this was one of the instruments with which Maxentius tried in vain to torture her, because she had refused to marry him: Catherine had already promised her virginity to God. In her right hand she probably clutched a sword, a reference to her execution. When she was beheaded, milk streamed from her neck, and this rid the city of the plague. In the Middle Ages, Catherine was among the most popular saints in the Low Countries. She was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who could be called upon in times of need; Catherine was invoked in particular against the plague and as a protectress of chastity.

The former Van Stolk collection in Haarlem contained a statue of St Catherine of Alexandria that is almost identical in facial type, pose and drapery to the Amsterdam statue, although it is somewhat stiffer and less masterly in execution.²²G. Lemmens and G. de Werd, Beelden uit Brabant: Laatgotische kunst uit het oude hertogdom 1400-1520, exh. cat. Den Bosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1971, fig. 5. The statue is now in a private collection. There is little doubt that these two statues were made in the same workshop and patterned after the same example. The pose, ornaments, attire and drapery of these saints can be traced back to the influential statues made by the Master of Koudewater around 1460-70 for such places as the abbey of Mariënwater in Koudewater (cf. BK-NM-1196 and BK-18068). In contrast to the work of many of his other followers (cf. BK-NM-1211), the Amsterdam St Catherine is not a mediocre quotation, but a lovely, individualistic interpretation of the Koudewater formula, which was probably not made by an assistant, but by an independent master. The face has a more extrovert, human character than the saints carved by the Master of Koudewater. Moreover, the elongated, vertical orientation that characterizes his statues has made way here for more movement and volume, obtained in particular by the deeply carved drapery, which falls in ample folds around the body.

These two statues of St Catherine are even more closely related to a sumptuously dressed Mary Magdalene in Düsseldorf (fig. a) than to the statues in the ‘Koudewater group’.³³Düsseldorf, Museum Kunstpalast, inv. no. 1938-1, see G. Lemmens and G. de Werd, Beelden uit Brabant: Laatgotische kunst uit het oude hertogdom 1400-1520, exh. cat. Den Bosch (Noordbrabants Museum) 1971, no. 29. The similarity was first observed by Leeuwenberg; see J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 93. The Düsseldorf statue was also formerly reckoned to belong to the ‘Koudewater group’ and for this reason localized to northern Brabant.⁴⁴A. von Saldern, Bildwerken des Mittelalters, Düsseldorf 1966 (Bildhefte des Kunstmuseums Düsseldorf 1), no. 30. However, the polygonal base with bevelled upper corners, the pose of the legs, and the expressive faces with slightly opened mouths are more indicative of an origin in the Lower Rhine region. The Mary Magdalene displays the same drapery scheme as the Amsterdam statue, and another striking similarity is the way in which a single, long tress hangs over the left shoulder in front of the body, ending in a graceful curl at hip height. This detail does not occur in any of the other statues in the ‘Koudewater group’.

It is likely that the two statues of St Catherine, as well as the Mary Magdalene, originated in the Lower Rhine region.⁵⁵The type of wood (oak) was one reason Van Liebergen had already argued in favour of an origin in this region. In his view, however, the statues were carved as early as around 1480 by a journeyman of the Master of Koudewater who had travelled to the abbey in Marienbaum; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij. Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, p. 114. The impression left by their bent right knees pressing against the garment from the inside, as well as the way the cloak worn by the Amsterdam Catherine is folded back over the shoulder, are considered characteristics of the sculpture of this region (cf. BK-NM-1208). In this case the obvious dependence on the Master of Koudewater can be explained by the highly plausible hypothesis that the Master of Koudewater had also made several statues for the abbey of Marienbaum near Cleves (cf. BK-NM-1196). These works could then have influenced the local woodcarvers.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 64, with earlier literature; C. Maassen in H.A. Tummers (ed.), Bekende en minder bekende laatmiddeleeuwse houten beelden, Nijmegen 1996, pp. 43-45; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij. Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, no. 16; M. van Vlierden, Uit het goede hout gesneden. Middeleeuwse beelden uit de collectie Schoufour-Martin in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, coll. cat. Rotterdam 2008, p. 149

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'follower of Meester van Koudewater, St Catherine of Alexandria, Lower Rhine region, c. 1510', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200115845