Minor architectural elements
The magnificent altarpiece was only part of the adornment of the high altar at the St. Michael’s abbey. The painting was incorporated into an impressive stone portico.
In 1802-1803, after the contents of the abbey had been sold under the French occupier, this construction ended up in the Dutch town of Zundert, near the Belgian border. It was rebuilt according to its original composition at the presbytery of the St. Trudo Church. The altarpiece stayed at the Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts and was replaced by a work by the Bossch painter Quirinus van Amelsfoort (approx. 1760-1820). This painting, that also represented the Adoration, was placed in the reredos in 1809. When the reredos moved to the new parish church (consecrated in 1927) it was placed against the southern wall, where it still is today.
A photograph of the setting in the old St. Trudo Church gives us an idea of the original appearance of the reredos as it was designed for the Antwerp abbey church.
As it contains elements that belong to the classical architectural concept, these are called minor architectural elements. The complete work follows the same architectural scheme as the portico. The main structure is based on two square pillars. Between them, two columns support a triangular fronton. The column structure stands on two stacked pedestals.
The exhibition niche and the tabernacle
Two more elements of the reredos received a place of honour in the new St. Trudo Church. The first one is the exhibition niche that was originally located at the predella, the wall surface above the mensa and under the altarpiece. On both sides of the black marble niche, which has a triangular fronton on top, there are two beautiful alabaster angels.
The winged angel heads are hauling baskets with fruits, a symbol of Eucharist. During mass the niche could hold the altar cross, but also a monstrance could be put there when the priest showed the Holy Sacrament for adoration.
In the course of the church’s history, the sacrarium has had several locations, including the hanging tabernacle, the wall tabernacle or the sacrament tower. Only from the 16th century onwards, it became more common to keep it on top of the altar. After the Counter Reformation it even became the preferred position. This change must be viewed in the context of the Real Presence dogma, a central element in the Roman doctrine of the faith. Unlike the Reformed, the Catholics believe that Christ is truly present in the Holy Sacrament. As a way to emphasise this, the Church states that the Eucharistic Reserve must be preserved in the most dignifying place within the church, which is undoubtedly the altar.
Materials of the portico
To give the construction more lustre, three valuable materials were used to make the portico.
In the first place there is a lot of black and red coloured ‘marble’, two Belgian types of stone. We have to put the term ‘marble’ between quotation marks, because the stone does not owe this name to its metamorphous character but only to its technological qualities, more precisely to its excellent polishability. In the 17th century, these materials were used for well-determined parts of the stone reredos. The black type was usually for the pedestals, the wall surfaces behind the columns, the architrave and the mouldings. The red stone was used for the columns and the frieze. This is also the case of this reredos.
The preference for native stones in the materials used certainly had economic motives, because the third material, alabaster, was much more expensive. Its high price was due to transportation costs. Foreign alabaster had to be imported from overseas, such as England. This valuable raw material was mainly used for (architectural) sculptures.
Sculpture
Not only the ornamental sculpture, such as the chapiter, festoons and winged angel heads were made of alabaster. There are also three huge alabaster sculptures on top of the portico. These impressive elements must have increased the cost of the entire reredos considerably.
On top of the triangular fronton is the Holy Virgin.
In her arms she is carrying the infant Jesus, who looks toward the spectator with a blessing attitude. On the gospel side – the spectator’s left hand side – is St. Michael, the abbey’s patron saint. He is the most important one of the two saints that accompany the Holy Virgin and her child.
On the other side is the founder of the order, St. Norbert of Prémontré. Unfortunately, since their transfer to the new St. Trudo Church, these three monumental sculptures are no longer in their original place on top of the reredos. They are now located at several points in the church. The magnificent sculpture of St. Michael has received a place of honour in the choir apse of the neo-Byzantine church.
The advantage of this new position is that we can now admire the works from much closer. This way the relationship in the composition of the sculptures is even more striking. They all provoke an incarnation of evil. The Madonna is standing on top of a snake, St. Michael is standing on an anthropomorphous devil with horns and St. Norbert on Tanchelm, the incarnation of heresy.
A unique whole
The high altar reredos at the Antwerp St. Michael’s abbey is in all respects an exceptional work. Not only the altarpiece itself is a remarkable artwork: the three sculptures, the minor architectural elements and the iconographic programme also deserve a prominent place in the history of art.
The portico determines the formal scheme of the 17th century reredos. The crown of the pillar structure, a very common practice, was composed of a broken fronton with a niche in between. The sculpture inside the niche has perfect dimensions in proportion to the height of the niche.
But the former high altar reredos at the Antwerp St. Michael’s abbey has a totally different structure. The portico supports a triangular fronton. Like in the antique acroter motive this allows the three monumental, freestanding sculptures, to crown the whole in an impressive way.
The form concepts, used in the composition of the whole, show the thorough knowledge and assimilation of contemporary Italianised architecture, dominated by the achievement of the so-called Post-Michelangelan mannerism. This included the “anti-classical” use of classical architectural motives, introduced into Italy by Michelangelo (1475 - 1564). Motives like the combination of a column and a square pillar in the column system, the separation of the entablement over the entire width of the portico and the application of mouldings in the shape of a protruding segment arch at the bottom line of the fronton, were a continuation of this style.
The iconographical programme is simply exceptional. The most common theme that we can find in 17th century reredos architecture is the patron saint that the altar is dedicated to. In the case of the high altar, it was the church patron. An instructive, painted representation of a scene from his life was combined with a sculpture of the same saint, placed in the crowning niche. On both sides of the niche we usually find a pair of sculptured angels, sitting on either end of the fronton, and honouring the altar patron.
But in this reredos we do not find any of that. The only element from this programme that we do find, is the sculpture of the church patron, St. Michael, who is here standing on the left corner of the triangular fronton. In the centre we find the Madonna and the infant Jesus.
There are probably two reasons why Mary’s presence is so prominent here. First, we know that there was a crypt with an altar, dedicated to the Holy Virgin, underneath the presbytery where the reredos was placed. Secondly, the Madonna is also the order patron of the Premonstratensians.
Another element that emphasises the identity of the Norbertine Order in the reredos’s iconography is the sculpture of St. Norbert who accompanies the Holy Virgin on the fronton as the pendant of the church patron. The presence of a full, life-sized sculpture of an order founder is exceptional in Southern Netherlands Baroque altar adornment (Fig. 22), which illustrates once again how special this work of art is.
The theme of this altarpiece, the Adoration, is not part of the traditional iconographical programme that places the altar patron in a central position, but it was quite common for 17th century altars, more precisely for high altars and sacrament altars. Contrary to this case, the tableau usually included a sculptured representation of Christ and/or God the Father in the upper part of the portico. This subject fits in the function of these altars: not only were they offering tables, but also a place where the Holy Sacrament was preserved. In this Eucharistic perspective, the Adoration can be considered an example of contemplative illustration of the believer’s faith in the Holy Sacrament, where God’s incarnate Son is truly present.
P.P. Rubens and Hans van Mildert?
The conclusion is that the high altar reredos at the Antwerp St. Michael’s abbey was not only remarkable as regards content and artistic performance. The iconographical programme also presents a striking stratification. The commissioner, the abbot Irsselius, undoubtedly had his say in the large number of elements in the iconography that related to the order. But the whole possibly also owes its exceptional character to the designer of the work.
Although there are no documents proving this thesis, this person would be no one else than Peter Paul Rubens. It is a fact that Rubens did not only provided altarpieces, but also designed their minor architectural elements and sculptural adornment. A documented example of this is the former high altar at the Brussels Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Kapelle Church, now rebuilt in the parish church of Sint-Joost-ten-Node (1617). It partly owes its existence to the generosity of the Archduchess Isabella and is a few years older than the one in Antwerp.
The thesis that Rubens designed the reredos is supported by the fact that there are painted sketches of two of the sculptures. These beautiful oil paint sketches represent St. Michael and St. Norbert. They are preserved in private collections outside Belgium.
The originality and the well-thought out, Italianised character of the minor architectural elements also seem to point to the Master. Precisely these features made the earlier example in Brussels a determining key work in Southern Netherlands reredos architecture.
Of this pioneering creation in Brussels, we also know with certainty that the Antwerp sculptor and architect Hans van Mildert (1588-1638), one of Rubens’ confidents, carried out the construction and the sculptures. Although there are not many archives confirming this thesis, there is general consensus about the fact that this was also the case of the high altar reredos at the St. Michael’s abbey. It is a realistic thesis because there were not many studios active in Antwerp in this period that were capable of carrying out this kind of important commissions.