ATTRIBUTED TO MICHEL VAN DER VOORT (1667-1737),NETHERLANDISH, 18TH CENTURY, | Allegorical figure

Christian de Bruyn, Brussels. 1989, private collection, Belgium.

RELATED LITERATURE
P. Philippot, D. Coekelberghs, P. Loze, D. Vautier, L'architecture religieuse et la sculpture baroque dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège, 1600-1770, Sprimont, 2003, p. 753 and pp. 995-1006.

In overall good condition with minor surface dirt, notably in the crevices; chips along the edges and to the high points at some places consistent with age and handling. Her proper right forearm has been reattached, just below the edge of the sleeve, and the hand retouched. As visible on the photography, the fingers of her proper right foot are missing. There are a few larger losses to the lower edge of the base, on the left hand-side of the terracotta, as visible on the photography. Stable firing fissures are visible at several places consistent with the material. The high points of the drapery appear to have been retouched at some places, notably to her proper left hand-side with breaks visible on the lower part. Joints are visible to the back, probably where the terracotta has been hollowed before firing. Small holes are visible to the back, probably made to secure the firing of the piece. A red-ochre slip covering the surface of the terra cotta appears to have been retouched at several places.
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The attribution to the sculptor from Antwerp was made by Mrs Dervaux, former curator of the Musée du Cinquantenaire in Brussels. This allegorical figure is comparable to the terracotta bozzetti of Constancy and Justice, circa 1709, studies for the Baron Van Coxie's funerary monument, in the Dominican Church of Brussels and now dismantled (Royal Museums of Fine arts of Belgium, height 51 and 54 cm, inv. no. 191 & 192). It can also be compared to the Marie-Madeleine of the pulpit of the convent of the Norbetines of Leliëndael, St-Rombaut Cathedral, Malines.