A male birdman with a hooked or aquiline nose and a receding hairline: variation on the ancient mythological theme of the female siren in the form of a misericord sculpted beneath a choir stall seat in the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Ouderkerksplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands: half bird, half man … a variation on the ancient Greek mythological and artistic theme of the female siren, with this example being a man with a receding hairline and an aquiline or hook nose. The carving has had a chequered history. It disappeared after being sawn from its original seat, but was then found in a carpenter’s shop. In 1889, it was presented to the city’s Amstelkring Museum, which returned it to the Oude Kerk in 1978. The sculpture has now been re-attached in its traditional location on the south side of the choir. The Oude Kerk misericords are a mixture of late-15th century carvings mostly illustrating Dutch proverbs or sayings, plus a few modern examples, such as a draughtsman working at his drawing board, which was added to the collection in 1974. The former Roman Catholic church is now a museum of architecture and art, although it still holds Protestant Sunday services. The ancient misericords survived the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, the switch from Catholicism to Calvinism under the Protestant Reformation - and incidents when the building was looted and defaced. The worst example of this occurred in 1566, when an iconoclastic mob destroyed most of the church’s art and fittings. Some pre-Reformation stained glass was left unscathed, as were the choir misericords.
Size: 3008px × 2000px
Location: Oude Kerk, Ouderkerksplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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