Saint Catherine of Alexandria
circle of Jan Borman I (Brussels c.1440 - c.1502/1503)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1500 - 1510
Materials
Oak
Measurements
585 mm (H)200 mm (W)240 mm (D)
Place of origin
Brussels
Order this imageCollection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1209723
Summary
Sculpture, oak; Figure of a female saint, probably Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Circle of Jan Borman I (c. 1440-c. 1502/03), Brussels, Belgium, c..1500-1510. One of a pair of small oakwood statues of female saints at Oxburgh Hall, probably acquired in the Low Countries (modern Belgium by Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, 6th Baronet (1800-1862) and his wife Margaret (1808-1887), who lived in Brussels and Bruges for much of the 1830s. The two figures were placed on top of staircase posts as part of the renovations of Oxburgh Hall commissioned by Sir Henry, intended to create interiors that were closer to the house’s original medieval aspect. Although it has lost its attributes, this figure wearing a crown very probably depicts Catherine of Alexandria, a very popular saint at the time.
Full description
An oak figure of a standing female saint, probably Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She is dressed in courtly dress, with a looped belt, and over her dress a voluminous cloak, one end of which is gathered up under the woman’s left arm. She is crowned, whilst her hair at the back is partly held by a reticulated net, before it cascades in multiple twisting locks. She looks directly ahead, but in her left hand has an open book, held outwards so that it could in theory be read by the viewer. Her right forearm and hand, which would once have held the saint’s attribute, are lost. On a small round base, roughly textured, now in turn mounted on a modern wooden base. Two nail holes in the back. A pair to NT 1209724. Because of the loss of the right hand, which would have held an attribute, it is no longer possible to identify with certainty the female saint. However, the fact that she is crowned suggests that she was intended to represent Saint Catherine, who is usually depicted with either a sword or a wheel, and is also quite often shown with an open book, in a reference to her famed learning. A photograph of the sculpture published in 1929 (Tipping 1929b, fig. 10) illustrates the now lost hand, which was empty but clearly had held an object such as a sword. Although it is now generally believed that she never actually existed, Saint Catherine of Alexandria has long been one of the most popular female Christian saints, venerated as a patron of education and learning. She is said to have lived early in the fourth century and to have been a young virgin who came from the Egyptian city of Alexandria. She was martyred in Rome, at the hands of the emperor Maxentius, who is seen at her feet in some representations. A painted depiction of Saint Catherine by an anonymous Flemish painter known as the Master of the St. Lucy Legend (fl. 1475-1505), at Upton House (NT 446759), shows the saint with a sword and an open book and thus very comparable to the probable original appearance of the Oxburgh Hall figure. The sculptures were at Oxburgh Hall by the 1850s, when one of them featured in a watercolour by Matilda Paston-Bedingfeld of the passage to the King’s Room, standing atop a newel post of the staircase (Wainwright 1993b, fig. 7). Both figures were photographed in the same position for an article in Country Life published in 1929 (Tipping 1929). The sculptures were almost certainly acquired by Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, 6th Baronet (1800-1862) who had spent part of his childhood in Belgium, to where his parents had for economic reasons moved after Waterloo, taking the château of Lovendighem near Ghent. Henry Paston-Bedingfeld became a passionate advocate of the medieval revival in Britain. Determined to restore the original spirit of Oxburgh Hall and greatly assisted by the fortune that his wife Margaret brought to the marriage, he employed the architect John Chessell Buckler (1793-1894) to carry out extensive works both outside and inside the house. It was at this time that much old woodwork was incorporated together with more modern elements to create antiquarian rooms such as the Library. Sir Henry and his wife Margaret frequently visited the Continent during the 1830s, mainly the Low Countries and Germany, as we know from Margaret Paston-Bedingfeld’s diary covering the years 1829-1839, recently rediscovered and generously donated to the National Trust for Oxburgh Hall (NT 1211847). In November 1836, she wrote at the end of a long stay in Brussels that ‘Our only amusement at Brussells was visiting the antiquarian shops.’ The couple then took a house in Bruges until their return to England early in 1838. Margaret wrote of the months in Bruges that ‘Here then we began to lead the life of hermits in good earnest, devoting all our money to making purchases for Oxburgh. We were fortunate enough to find a beautiful altar &c for our new Chapel (which Henry arranged out of a Chapelle Gothique) & several other pieces of carving, Cabinets &c. Pere Augustine, the Superior of the Carmes, presented us with various things, amongst others, a well carved Madonna &c in oak.’ So the two figures might have been well bought or presented to the Bedingfelds in the 1830s in the Low Countries, although it is known that Sir Henry continued to buy works of art to embellish the house as did, on a lesser scale, his son and heir the 7th Baronet, also Sir Henry (1830-1902). The two figures were certainly made in Brussels, one of the principal centres for painting and sculpture in the Southern Netherlands. They may originally have formed part of a series of figures of saints, perhaps designed to stand atop wall columns in some chapel or church. The style and the women’s costume would suggest a dating around 1500-1510. The figures are very close in style - the angular deeply-cared drapery, the faces, with their almond-shaped eyes with heavy, half-closed lids, delicate noses and small pursed mouths – to sculptures made in the workshop of Jan Borman I (c. 1440-c. 1502/03), the founder of an extensive and celebrated dynasty of sculptors that included his son Jan Borman II (c. 1460-c. 1520) and continued into the late sixteenth century, working in Leuven (Louvain), Brussels and Antwerp (for the Borman, see recently Debaene 2019). The Saint George Altarpiece , made c. 1490-93 by Jan II and possibly also Jan I, in the Art and History Museum in Brussels, is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of Flemish late Gothic carving and of sculpture in wood in general. The Oxburgh Hall figures are especially close to two oak statues of Mary Magdalene, both attributed to Jan Borman I and dated c. 1480-90. The first is in the Art and History Museum in Brussels (Inv. 2992; Huysmans 2000, pp. 102-03, no. 40; Debaene 2019, p. 188, no. 219), the second in the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Inv. Cl. 1851; Debaene 2019, p. 199, no. 53). The faces, pose and handling of the draperies are all very similar, whilst the turban headdress and long plaits of the Brussels Mary Magdalene are replicated in the figure at Oxburgh who holds a girdle book. Some elements of the carving are of excellent quality but further research is needed to assess whether the two figures could be products of the Borman workshop. On balance, it is more probable that they were made by another workshop in the circle of the Borman, whose works were highly influential. Jeremy Warren February 2025
Provenance
Probably acquired by Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, 6th Baronet (1800-1862; by descent. Part of the Bedingfeld Collection.
Makers and roles
circle of Jan Borman I (Brussels c.1440 - c.1502/1503), sculptor Flemish School, sculptor
References
Tipping 1929: H Avray Tipping, ‘Country Homes Gardens Old & New. Oxburgh Hall – Norfolk’, Country Life, 10 & 17 August 1929, pp. 194-202 & 224-232, p. 228, fig. 10. Wainwright 1993: Clive Wainwright, “Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk. II.” Country Life 16 December 1993, pp.48-51, p. 51, fig. 7. Woods 2007: Kim Woods, Imported Images: Netherlandish Late Gothic Sculpture in England c.1400-c.1550, Donington, 2007, pp. 462-64, no. 87, Pl. 202. Huysmans 2000: Antoinette Huysmans, ed.: La sculpture des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la Principauté de Liège. Xve et XVIe siècles, Brussels 2000 Debaene 2019: Marjan Debaene, ed., Borman. A Family of Northern Renaissance Sculptors, London/Turnhout 2019