It started with a love for wood, it resulted in love for sculptures. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is staging a special presentation of medieval sculptures from the Schoufour-Martin Collection until 28 January 2018. The collection contains more than a hundred objects, three-quarters of them wooden statues. The exhibition is a tribute to Jacques Schoufour and his wife Ingeborg Martin, who for decades built up their collection with passion. Their magnificent gift to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has doubled the museum’s collection of medieval sculpture.

The earliest works in the Schoufour-Martin Collection include an early fourteenth-century Christ Blessing and two magnificent ivory diptychs from the end of that century. The major part of the collection dates from around 1500, with sculpture from Brussels, Antwerp and Mechelen at its heart.

Two Calvary Groups (Bruges, c. 1410), Six Fragments from a Marian Altarpiece (Brussels, c. 1520) and The Meeting of Joachim and Anne (Antwerp, first half of the sixteenth century) are just three of the most important works. The exhibition was designed by the Rotterdam-based designer Vincent de Rijk in collaboration with photographer Frans Parthesius.