HAUT-RELIEF EN ALBÂTRE SCULPTÉ REPRÉSENTANT L'ANNONCIATION

Suiveur de Jean Mone (ca. 1485/90 - ca. 1548/59)
Brabant, Malines ou Anvers, ca. 1550-1580

Footnotes

Alabaster is a stone that is generally white in colour and closely resembles marble. However, it is much more flexible, making it easier to work with. It is a popular material for sculpture as it is relatively soft, polishes well, allows for precise details and can be painted or gilded. At first, it was a very exclusive material, used at the courts of France and England as an alternative to marble. Gradually, alabaster found its way into other circles: churches and monasteries, the clergy, the aristocracy... in the mid-16th century the use of alabaster was completely integrated and, as it was readily available, the aristocracy could commission such spectacular works of art.

For a time, alabaster was the material of choice for altarpieces, the large works of art placed above altars. In the Middle Ages, the Low Countries were renowned throughout Europe for these objects, which were mainly carved from wood at the time. But gradually, alabaster replaced wood, and centers for the production of alabaster altarpieces emerged throughout Europe: in England, Bordeaux, Poland, Mechelen, etc.

Flemish altarpiece production, which reached its height in the early decades of the 16th century thanks to the great popularity of large carved altarpieces made for the open market and export, began to decline after 1530 and had almost entirely ceased by around 1560. The colourful, painted Gothic wooden altarpieces were gradually replaced by more restrained Renaissance retables in alabaster and marble, where the natural hues of the stones often enhanced with gilded details and decorative framing became the dominant aesthetic. These innovations were pioneered by sculptors working for the Habsburg court, who were familiar with the latest artistic trends in Italy. Among them were Conrad Meit (1470/85–1550/51) from Worms, Jean Mone from Metz, and Jacques Dubroeucq (c. 1505–1584) from Mons. In 1533, Mone created the alabaster Altarpiece of the Seven Sacraments in Halle, and between 1536 and 1541 he produced the alabaster Passion Altarpiece for the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels (now conserved in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels). In 1537, Meit was responsible for the now-lost Marian Altarpiece in Antwerp's Church of Our Lady (M. Debaene, S. Jugie, Alabaster Sculpture in Europe (1300-1650), Harvey Miller, 2022).

Our alabaster relief was certainly part of an altarpiece depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary and probably a work from the southern Netherlands, originating from the circle of the famous Renaissance sculptor Jean Mone (c. 1485/90–c. 1548/59), and can be dated around 1550–1580. It would probably have been specially commissioned, possibly for the private chapel of an eminent individual. Perhaps the patron might be sought in the environs of the Habsburg court in Brussels or Mechelen, where the Renaissance style was first manifested in the Low Countries. The sculptor took great care over the setting of each scene, using meticulously detailed classical architecture that is sometimes ingeniously treated in perspective or recedes to give the illusion of extra depth. From a narrative and stylistic point of view, it can be compared to an alabaster altarpiece from the workshops of the southern Netherlands depicting the life of the Virgin Mary (known as the Garnier monument), dated 1593 and preserved in the Church of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels (Between contestation and re-invention The Netherlandish altarpiece in turbulent times (c. 1530-1600), Aleksandra Lipińska).

Amazing work and scientific research have been realized over the past decades and a wonderful recent exhibition with the collaboration of the Louvre museum took place between 14.10.22 - 26.02.23 in M (museum) Leuwen called Alabaster Sculpture in Europe (1300-1650).

Provenance
By repute, with the Antique dealer A.K. BRUCE in May 1896.
Madame Albert Avonds, Antwerp, 1979. We enclose a digital copy of the certificate of authenticity.
Private collection, Belgium, acquired at the above. Then passed down by descent to the current owner.
The purchase recorded in a 1994 insurance document.

Comparative bibliography
M. Debaene & S. Jugie, Alabaster Sculpture in Europe (1300-1650) (Studies in Medieval and Early Renaissance Art History), Harvey Miller, 2022.
Alabaster in the Netherlandish sculpture of the 16th and 17th centuries, Exp. Cat. National Museum in Gdansk, Gdansk 2011.
A. Lipinska, Moving sculptures, Southern Netherlandish alabasters from the 16th to 17th centuries in Central and Northern Europe, Leiden-Boston 2015.
A. Lipinska, E.M. Kavaler, F. Scholten, J.Woodall, Between contestation and re-invention. The Netherlandish altarpiece in turbulent times (c. 1530-1600) in: Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art 67: Netherlandish Sculpture of the 16th Century, Leiden Boston 2018, pp. 79-117.