Seated Bishop

The seated figure can be identified as a bishop by his mitre and cope, but it is difficult to tell exactly which saint is represented here, as the personal attribute that would identify the saint is missing. At the beginning of last century, the statue was in the parish church of Klimmen, and it was given to the museum on long-term loan in 1912. In those days, the statue was known as St Remigius and there was a relic in the oval opening in the mitre. It is probable that the work was only given the name of the patron saint of the church in Klimmen when it came here in the nineteenth century.

It has been established that the work was created by Jan van Steffeswert. This can be deduced from the signature, IAN, and the maker’s mark on the plinth, which were revealed around 1960 when later overpainting was removed from the work. It is striking that Van Steffeswert has given the bishop individual features. When it was restored by the Limburg Conservation Institute (SRAL), significant remains of the original polychromy were exposed, giving a good impression of what the work would have looked like originally.