Materia mortis

This essay offers a revaluation of the materiality of early modern Netherlandish tombs, a field that has only recently attracted serious scholarly attention. Her contribution focuses on the role played by materiality as a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of these monuments. Tomb sculpture generally relied on a combination of material properties: the potential of realistic representation, durability, intrinsic value, and material splendour. Most suitable for a convincing representation of a dead body in this period was translucent alabaster with its warm flesh tone, while Italian white marble and bronze referenced antiquity and classical notions of durability. The use of specific sets of local and imported materials resulted in a unique ‘material image’ of Netherlandish tomb sculpture, which effectively contributed to the preservation of the deceased’s memoria, social status, and dynastic and personal magnificence.