Attributed to Hendrick Douverman (Circa 1480 - 1543, Kalkar)

Attributed to Hendrick Douverman (Circa 1480 - 1543, Kalkar)
"Saint Margaret and the dragon"
Carved oak wood sculpture. Germany. Circa 1520. 120 x 46 x 34 cm.
Douverman, who was probably born in Dinslaken, was an artist who ranks among the most significant sculptors from the Lower Rhine region of his time. This marvellous image has similarities to the “Saint Ursula” by Douverman, dated circa 1520, which forms part of the collection at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
It can also be linked to the Mary Magdalene which can be found in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Kalkar and the Saint Margaret dated circa
1520, which can be found at the Staatliche Museum in Berlin.
Due to the similarity in style between his early sculptures and those by Dries
Holthuis, he is believed to have been trained in Holthiuis’ workshop in Kleve.
The basis for this assumption is the carving of Saint John the Evangelist as well as that of Saint Andrew, created circa 1504 for the series of apostles at the Church of the Minims and the Immaculate Conception in Kleve.
There is documentation from 1510 showing that he accepted the commission for the Virgin Mary reredos for the Church of the Assumption in Kleve, which was largely destroyed in 1944. He opened his first workshop in Kleve in 1514, having to abandon it a year later due to “immoral conduct”, whereupon he installed himself in Kalkar.
This is where he made his most important sculptures, especially those made for the Church of Saint Nicholas, such as the marvellous reredos of the seven pains of Mary, for example, which was created between 1518 and 1521, and which is considered to be his crowning and best-known work. It is made up of 150 carved figures in an infinitely detailed architectural and landscaped space. Stylistically, his creative period between 1510 and1540, evolved from late gothic to mannerism, without ever giving up any of the fundamental characteristics of Lower Rhine reredos of the late Middle Ages. Douverman renounced polychrome in his sculptures from his first reredos onwards, just as his contemporary Tilman Riemenschneider did.