Northern Netherlandish, probably Utrecht, circa 1500 | Anna Selbdritt

Private collection, Belgium;
by descent to the present owner

This beautiful group of Saint Anne, the Virgin and the Christ Child bears a stylistic resemblance to the work of the Utrecht master Adriaen van Wesel and northern Netherlandish sculptors in his orbit. Van Wesel's influence is evident particularly in Saint Anne's delicate features, with a small nose and mouth, the Virgin's long, wavy tresses and the elaborately folded, ample drapery. Saint Anne's slender form and drapery scheme are reminiscent of a Virgin and Child tentatively attributed to Van Wesel in the Schnütgen Museum, Cologne (inv. no. A 783, op. cit. no. 30). A striking comparison for the figures' facial types is found in an Anna Selbdritt in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen (inv. no. SK323, op. cit. no. 47), which is thought to have originated among Van Wesel's following.

RELATED LITERATURE
M. van Vlierden, Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, Utrecht, 2004