Alabaster is a fascinating material, appreciated since antiquity for its delicacy, transparency and luminosity. Its workmanship has deep roots dating back to ancient Egypt, but only in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance it reached levels of great refinement, getting a peak of diffusion and popularity especially in certain European regions, such as England, Spain, Flanders and Germany, areas rich in deposits of this material.

Particularly in Flanders and mainly in the city of Malines (today Mechelen, Belgium) between the 15th and 16th century, the first workshops spread, specializing in alabaster carvings, often intended for private devotion or for the ornamentation of altars and chapels. The strategic location of this town, halfway between Brussels and Antwerp, as well as the presence of a lively cultural and religious life fostered an increasing development of the working of this material through the production of countless objects destined both for the local market and for export, thus making Malines famous throughout Europe.

These workshops, typical expressions of Flemish art of the period, worked with great precision and attention to detail creating works for the aristocracy and clergy as well as the bourgeoisie. The repertoire was large and included statuettes but mainly low-reliefs of various sizes depicting scenes from the Life of Christ, episodes from the Old Testament and, more rarely, mythological subjects. These alabaster reliefs, typically set in a wooden frame, can have different levels of quality: in the most refined examples, as in the case of the plaque shown here, the relief had a more complex narrative style and it was enriched with minute gildings.

The present relief is a particularly significant example of Malines’ production and depicts the biblical episode of the Resurrection of Christ. The scene, most likely taken from an engraving, is compositionally dense and characterized by a strong emotional intensity: in the upper register we recognize the figure of Jesus ascending to Heaven, with his right hand blessing and his left holding the banner of Victory over Death, surrounded by winged cherubs arranged in the clouds; the lower register is occupied by Roman soldiers guarding the tomb, portrayed in various movements and postures: some of them protecting themselves with their shields raised as if sheltering themselves from the blinding light, some on the ground barely awake, one in the middle of the scene even still asleep. The entire composition, characterized by meticulous accuracy to detail and drapery, communicates a sense of theatricality, particularly enhanced by the natural translucency of the alabaster that enlivens the scene through contrasts of light and shadow.

A distinctive and qualitative element of this work is certainly its size. The vast majority of alabaster reliefs produced in Malines in the 16th century were relatively small (typically 12.5-13.5 x 9.5-10 cm), works therefore easily transportable and intended for domestic devotion, whereas in this case the relief is twice the size (21 x 27 cm), particularly accurate in detail and embellished with subtle gildings, clear signs of a work made for a more important purpose, such as a private chapel of nobility or an altar in a church or convent.

Among the large-size reliefs of identical subject of the plaque presented here, three other specimens are known in the museums of Brussels, Krakow and Wroclaw, with similar dimensions and characteristics, even though with compositional differences in the poses of the characters and their details, proof that – although Malines’ production was rather repetitive – each relief has its own unique characteristics.

All these museum-preserved plaques are similar in their entire composition, but differ from our own especially in the lower register. For example, in the Resurrection preserved in Krakow, the scene depicted in the lower register appears less articulate and complex both in the armour of the soldiers and in the orientation of the tomb, and with less refinement in the gilding. At the same time, the figure of the Risen Christ among winged cherubs in all three of the above-mentioned museum specimens is very similar to our own.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Malines became one of the most important centers of the Flemish Renaissance, mainly due to the patronage of Margaret of Austria, who, as regent of the Netherlands, settled in the town in 1507 and elected it administrative capital. Under her rule, the city prospered as a political and cultural centre, attracting artists and intellectuals to court, and contributing to the great support and strengthening of local craft and artistic traditions, including workmanship of this material, of which this splendid relief bears full witness.

 

THE RESURRECTION

Carved alabaster with gildings

Flanders (Malines)

Third quarter 16th century

Cm 27h x 21

 

Bibliography:

Guy Bès de Berc, Sculptures d’albâtre de Malines – Les reliefs de dévotion fin XVIeme début XVIIeme siècle, Autoédition, Saint Armel, 2003, pp. 159-160.

Jacek Kriegseisen, Aleksandra Lapinska, Matter of light and flash – Alabaster in the Netherlandish sculpture of the 16th and 17th century, exhibition catalogue at Muzeum Narodowe w Gdansku, Gdansk, 2011.