Saint James the Less (bozzetto for the statue of the same name in St James' Church in Liège), ca. 1691

The Liege artist Jean Delcour was active in the Southern Netherlands. After returning from Rome – the centre in Europe of Baroque sculpture during the 1660s – he became the most important and multifaced sculptor of the Principality of Liège. But his reputation extended further. Works by him are also present in situ in Flanders. His absolute masterpiece is in the ambulatory of St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent: the monumental, white marble mausoleum of Bishop Eugène Albert d’Allamont (1627-1673), which bears witness to expressiveness and Baroque movement. That expressiveness of movement and pathos is reflected in this particular bozzetto. It is a preliminary study made in terracotta for the statue of James the Lesser (1691), which is part of the imposing series of statues of saints in wood in the Church of Saint James in Liège.