Saint Begga and Saint Anne
This large niche once housed the shrine of Saint Perpetuus. Today it contains two remarkable medieval polychrome wooden sculptures.
Saint Begga, dating from the 15th century, can be recognised by her crown, a reminder of her noble origins. She holds a book and a small church, evoking the monastery she founded at Andenne.
Beside her, Saint Anne is shown with her daughter, the Virgin Mary, and the Child Jesus: three generations united in a single sculpture. The book evokes Mary’s education; the bunches of grapes foreshadow the Passion of Christ. This work, made around 1500–1530, is attributed to the Master of the Calvary of Lesve.
But look at their colours. The sculptures are medieval, but the polychromy you see today is not. Around 1880, they were completely repainted and regilded by Jules Helbig, in the Neo-Gothic taste of the period.
A fine example of the way the 19th century sought to give the Middle Ages the colours it imagined they had.