Female Figure from the Tomb of Isabella of Bourbon

The funeral monument of Isabella of Bourbon, wife of Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was erected in the abbey church of St Michael near Antwerp in 1476. It was robbed of most of its decoration in the 16th or 17th century. Originally the tomb was surrounded by 24 bronze statuettes of noblemen and women standing in niches. The bronze effigy of Isabella was later moved to the O.-L. Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of Our Lady) in Antwerp, where it remains to this day. Nothing more of the tomb furnishings survives, with the exception of ten statuettes in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Isabella’s mausoleum is based on two almost identical tombs which no longer exist. These tombs were the work of the sculptor Delemer, the painter Rogier van der Weyden and the bronze-founder Jacob de Gerines. It is assumed that the models for the Amsterdam statuettes were supplied by Delemer or his workshop.