Book Series Early Modern Cultural Studies, vol. 3

Taking Shape

Sculpture of the Low Countries, c. 1400–1600

Julie Beckers, Hannah De Moor, Ethan Matt Kavaler (eds)

  • Pages: approx. 351 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:6 b/w, 138 col.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2024


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Taking Shape: Sculpture of the Low Countries (1400-1600) offers a key reference work on Late Medieval sculpture in the Low Countries. The contributions by leading scholars in the field presented here offer an overview of the latest research on the topic.

Subject(s)
BIO

Dr. Julie Beckers is a postdoctoral research fellow at Illuminare – Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Art (KU Leuven). Beckers studied Art History at the University of Oxford and received her PhD from KU Leuven in 2017 (supervised by Prof. Barbara Baert). Her research focused on the visual culture of Poor Clare convents in Central and Southern Italy in the period 1350-1525.

Dr. Hannah De Moor is Collaborator Collection Management and Research at the Old Masters Department in M Leuven and Ards 

 the platform for medieval sculpture. De Moor received her PhD in Art History from KU Leuven in 2022 (supervised by Prof. Jan Van der Stock and Prof. Carina Jacobsson). Her research, funded by the Chair for Medieval Sculpture in the Netherlands and Illuminare – Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Art (KU Leuven), focused on Netherlandish carved altarpieces in medieval Sweden.

Ethan Matt Kavaler is Director of the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies and Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto. He specializes in early modern Netherlandish art and Gothic art and architecture throughout northern Europe.

Summary

This book examines the production, patronage, and use of sculptures made in the Low Countries between 1400 and 1600. Two questions frame the book: ‘Why did Sculpture from the Low countries matter’ and ‘Why will Sculpture from the Low Countries matter for future research’. Answers to these questions will be offered in a coherent and richly illustrated study which considers Sculpture as a pivotal subject field within Art Historical discourse.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
Julie Beckers and Hannah De Moor

Introduction
Ethan Matt Kavaler

Chapter 1: Use and Function of Sculpture

Accommodating Altarpieces: The Impact of Circumstantial Factors on the Design of Altar Decorations in Medieval Churches
Justin Kroesen
Working Sculpture: The Forms and Functions of Netherlandish Brass Lecterns
Douglas Brine
Outside the Frame: The Spatial Experience of Late Medieval Altarpieces
Wendy Wauters
The Stem of a Once Ornate Fountain: The Use of a Table Fountain Fragment at Museum Mayer Van den Bergh in Antwerp
Julie Beckers

Chapter 2: Patronage of Sculpture

Patronage
Jeffrey Chipps Smith
Noble Expectations of Memorial Sculpture: Commissioning the Jauche Monuments in Brugelette (c. 1527-1573)
Ruben Suykerbuyk
The Chapel Space and Interiority in the Ringsaker Altarpiece
Lynn F. Jacobs
Prestige and Display: Noble Patronage of Sculpture in the Low Countries
Elizabeth Rice Mattison

Chapter 3: Production and Workshop

Continuity and Discontinuity in the Sculpture Workshop Practice
Aleksandra Lipińska
The Leuven Connection: A New Look at the Social and Artisanal Network of Leuven Late Gothic Sculptors (c. 1475-1525)
Marjan Debaene
The Transport of Netherlandish Carved Altarpieces
Hannah De Moor

Epilogue: Seeing Sculpture
Stephanie Porras

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