Crucifixion with devotional portraits of two members of the Keye family

General information
Original location Zutphen, Church of St Walburg (Walburgiskerk), portal of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouweportaal)
Current location Zutphen, Church of St Walburg (Walburgiskerk), in the transept, in a display of saved sculpture fragments
Provenance Still in original institution
Commissioner Members of the Keye family, possibly Gertrut Keye, the probable wife and mother of the mentioned pilgrims, who is commemorated in the text as well and was buried in the said church. She may have ordered the epitaph to commemorate the deaths of her husband and son, and that of herself. Another possibility is Alyt Keye, who is commemorated here as well, but whose family ties to the others are unclear. (see remarks)
Artist Anonymous
Date 1500-1540 (years of death of Gertrut and Alyt Keye)
Material Stone
Visual elements
Short description Memorial sculpture with a crucifixion and four persons, two on both sides. These are probably two kneeling devotional portraits (on both sides the closest to the cross) with standing saints behind them. The devotional portraits may have represented Otto and Joost Keye, commemorated in the text as Jerusalem pilgrims. In that case, Otto as head of the family probably was depicted on the viewer's left side of the cross.
Text Under the image: Anno Domini M CCCC ende LXXVIII stoerven Otta Keye ende Ioes sijn soen int vederkomen van Ierusalem, ende sinen begraven int riek van Cipere in die staet Nycosia. Anno M VC op den VIII dach septembris staerf Gertrut Keye Otta [...] hir begraven. Anno M VC XL op Sant Urbans dach [...] Alyt Keie. Bid [...]
Number of pilgrims 2
Depicted pilgrims
Personal information
Name Otto Keye
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1478
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage None (see remarks)
Death
Year of death 1478
Location of grave Nycosia, Cyprus
Personal information
Name Joost Keye
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1478
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage None (see remarks)
Death
Year of death 1478
Location of grave Nycosia, Cyprus
Additional information related to this person
Personal remarks Joost was the son of Otto, and died like his father on the way back from Jerusalem. Even more than Otto, it is uncertain whether he was portrayed in the image. The person kneeling right of the cross could also be Gertrut Keye, if she was indeed Otto's wife. However, it is likely that Joost was portrayed, since the text mentions the pilgrimage so prominently, and the epitaph seems therefore to have been made primarily to commemorate Otto and Joost.
Additional information
General remarks The sculpture is heavily damaged, probably during the Iconoclasm. The heads of the persons have been cut off, the crucified Christ has been removed entirely, and the stone is broken into many parts. The scene is therefore hard to reconstruct, but based on other memorial objects, the iconography described above seems to be likely. Moreover, it is impossible to say whether the kneeling persons once carried attributes of the Jerusalem pilgrimage.
The part of the text after 'Otto' on the fourth line is very difficult to read due to the stone being damaged there. However, it seems to read something like sijn.moer.s(alige).husfr(ouw) (Gimberg) or sijn.woers(creven?).husf(rouw), which makes only nonsense, according to Gimberg. I cannot entirely agree with him. In any case, it means that both transcriptions are probably incorrect, but what stands out in both is that Gertrut is mentioned clearly as the wife of Otto Keye, and is therefore probably also the mother of Joost. Alyt, whose text has disappeared completely, may have been a daughter of the couple.
Literature
  • Gimberg, J., 'Zutphensche opschriften uit vorige eeuwen,' Gelre - Bijdragen en mededeelingen 2 (1899), pp. 269-303, 282-283
  • Kuile, E.H. ter, De Nederlandse monumenten van geschiedenis en kunst III. De provincie Gelderland, 2e stuk: Het kwartier van Zutfen (The Hague 1958), p. 238
MeMO ID 499
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