Ways to discover the collection

Wooden sculpture

Wooden sculpture was an integral part of interior church furnishings. The most important renderings were of the crucifix and Madonna with Child, but the saints were also depicted. Wooden sculptures were usually polychrome; in the early Middle Ages, they were sometimes even covered with gold foil. Especially in the 14th century, ever larger altarpieces (retables) began to be created with carved wooden figures; these were often combined with panel paintings on the altar wings. Many of the wooden sculptures that are now part of the Museum Schnütgen’s collection at one time belonged to an altar retable. Wooden figures were sometimes used to ornament furniture such as choir chairs or lecterns. The altar table, by contrast, was always made of stone. Finally, wood was a popular medium for smaller sculptures intended for private devotion.