Attributed to Jan Crocq (active 1486-1510) French, Lorraine, Nancy or Bar-le-Duc, circa 1500-1510

by repute the Sainte-Chapelle, Hôtel de Ville, Dijon;
certainly Mr. E. Ingels, Belgium, late 19^thcentury;
with Joseph Brummer, Paris, circa 1910;
William Rockhill Nelson, Oak Hall, Kansas City, Missouri, before 1915;
thence by bequest to The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 1915 (later known as The William Rockhill Nelson Collection and from 1983, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), inv. no. 33-69;
sold by order of the University Trustees of the William Rockhill Trust, Sotheby’s New York, 1 June 1991, lot 18, as 15^thcentury style;
private collection, Belgium.

“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art”, Art News XXXII, no. 10, 1933, p. 50;
Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, 1933, p. 72 (attributed to Claus Sluter);
The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, Kansas City, 1941, p. 89, fig. 8;
The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, Kansas City, 1949, p. 112 (school of Burgundy, late 14^thcentury);
Handbook of the Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum, Kansas City, 1959, p. 54 (School of Burgundy, late 14^thcentury).

A technical report by F. Robaszynski, Elements en vue de cerner l'origine de la pierre ayant servi a sculpter une statue de Saint Jean-Baptiste, Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Belgium, dd. 12 March 1998, suggesting the stone was quarried at Tonnerre, near Dijon, is available from the department. Overall the condition of the stone is good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There are remnants of original polychromy. There are some losses, including a large loss to the proper left sleeve, losses to the ground and also to the reverse. The proper right hand is lost. There are further smaller losses, including to the edges of the decorated drapery above the feet - this has been partially restored, but there are some subsequently losses. There are further losses to the drapery, including to the right sleeve, and very minor losses to the hair and beard. Three of the proper left toes are reattached. There is veining, consistent with material, including a slightly open vein running across the abdomen below the book. There may have been an attribute at the sternum, on top of the camel skin.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present statue is one of only a handful of monumental stone carvings from the fabled workshops active in the Burgundian Netherlands in private hands. Saint John the Baptist was part of the collections of Joseph Brummer and William Rockhill Nelson and survives in good condition. It relates to specific works by a sculptor active at the large ducal court in Nancy and was once part of an important altarpiece: possibly that in the chapel of the town hall of Dijon, as Brummer suggested.

At the end of the 15th century, Rene II (1473-1508), Duke of Bar and Lorraine and King of Sicily, led his territory through its second resurgence in 100 years. He created one of the most powerful economies in Europe and consequently paved the way for one of the great transitional artistic patronages of the late Gothic era. The Duke asked talented local and foreign artists to join his court and they created a seminal style that combined Netherlandish, Rhenish and Italian influences. Its chief proponent was the Northern sculptor Claus Sluter. His work was already a century old but Sluter's monumental figures for the Well of Moses in the Chartreuse at Champmol and the tomb of Philip the Bold in Dijon still influenced the region's artistic production. Particularly the cool, stern facial types employed by Sluter and the volume of the drapery persisted. However, the style was updated with elaborate passages of drapery and hairstyles. Figures became more elongated and were set less firmly on the ground, appearing more dynamic and elegant.

The most important sculptor active at the Bar and Lorraine court was Jan Crocq, who, like Sluter, came from the Low Countries. He is recorded as working on several commissions in the ducal palaces and chapels and rebuilt sumptuous tombs for Rene's ancestors. None of his documented work survives but pre-Revolution sketches of the tombs have revealed some stylistic traits, prompting scholars to attribute a body of work to Crocq. A wonderful limestone Saint Catherine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. no. 07.196) compares most closely to the present sculpture. The faces of both figures are characterised by a nose with a long bridge and wide nostrils and similarly shaped lips. Despite the difficulty in comparing the downcast eyes of Catherine with the straight gaze of John, the proportions of the eyes are the same. John's hair consists of alternating crescent-shaped curls which also make up the beard of the trampled Emperor Maxentius in the New York group. The mantles of the statues are arranged in analogous triangular folds, the same zig-zag texture decorates the inside of the fabric, and decorative borders with beaded edges line the edges of the mantles of both saints. Compare also the execution of the drooping sleeves of Saint John and Maxentius. The hands of both Saint John and Catherine have long fingers placed in carefully studied positions and have a distinctive raised cuticle around the nails. Both hold a book with a soft, ridged spine. Despite some losses to the base of Saint John, it seems that it too had a octagonal base over which certain details, such as the camel's head and foot of Saint John, and Maxentius in the Metropolitan Museum's statue, projected. Furthermore the figures could have been from the same ensemble because they are of comparable height: 163 and 156 centimetres.

Two wood sculptures representing Saint George and Saint John the Evangelist in the Musée Lorrain in Nancy, illustrated by Bouchot (op.cit.), also have the "crescent" curls seen in the present sculpture's hair. The Evangelist in particular has a comparable drapery scheme with creases radiating from the saint's waist and triangular folds to one side.

According to archival research carried out by Maxe-Werly in 1897 (op.cit.) in the ledgers of the Guild of Saint Luke in both Bruges and Antwerp, Jan Crocq was a native of Flanders and probably born in Antwerp. The archives refer to him as Jan Croc, Croec, or Crook and explain that he was active during his early career as an engraver and carver of wood ornaments. In 1487 he appears in the town records of the city of Bar, receiving payment for the restoration of the tomb of Henri of Bar in the Church of Saint Maxe and a chimney piece in the ducal palace there. A letter from 20 June 1488, signed by Duke Rene II, tells him that he can count on continuous commissions from the Duchy of Bar and Lorraine provided that he remains in Bar. In 1489 he was working in Rheims cathedral on the chapel of Saint-Lait. From 1499 to 1510 he received regular payments from Rene II and his wife, Duchess Philippe of Guelders, suggesting he was still permanently employed as their court sculptor. During this period he designed and executed the tomb of Charles le Temeraire in the college of Saint George (1506, now destroyed). Towards the end of this period, from 1508, he also received a subsidy for an apprentice called Francois Bourree. Crocq's name disappears from the ducal accounts after 1510 and other sculptors took his place at court.

In the early 1990s it was suggested that the present sculpture was perhaps a much later carving emulating the sculpture of Claus Sluter. The removal of a layer of paint, the identification of the stone, and new research with regards to the dating of the figure have determined it dates to the first decades of the 16th century.

A technical report by F. Robaszynski: Elements en vue de cerner l’origine de la pierre ayant servi a sculpter une statue de Saint Jean-Baptiste, Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Belgium, dd. 12 March 1998, suggests the stone was quarried at Tonnerre, near Dijon, is available from the department.

RELATED LITERATURE
L. Maxe-Werly, 'Jean Crocq de Bar-le-Duc, sculpture et sa famille 1487-1510', Memoires de la Societes des Lettres de Bar-le-Duc, 1897, pp. 7-70; H. D. Hofmann, 'Der niederlaender Jan Crocq, Hofbildhauer in Bar-le-Duc und Nancy. Sein lothringische Oeuvre (1486-1519)', Aachener Kunstblaetter, 1966, pp. 106-125; J. Steyaert (ed.), Late gothic sculpture, the Burgundian Netherlands, exh. cat. Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 1994; P. Simonin, 'Oeuvres de Jan Crocq. Sculpture neerlandais en Lorraine', Le pays lorrain, 84, 2003, pp. 194-196; G. Sismann, 'Saint Jacques le Mineur attribue a Jean Crocq', Estampille-Objets d'Art, 437, 2008; J. Bouchot, 'Jean Crocq, imagier lorrain. Nouvelle e perspectives', Le pays lorrain, 108, 2011, pp. 329-336