Bartholomeus
Bartholomeus is a French limestone sculpture in Utrecht, showing the apostle Bartholomew standing on a roughly carved ship’s bow. Waves shape the base, while a net filled with fish rests across his lap.
René van Seumeren created the work in 1952, when he was twenty-nine, and Utrecht commissioned it for the newly built Bartholomeus Bridge. The city placed it there in 1962, linking the figure to the nearby Bartholomeusgasthuis and its local religious heritage. A tall, octagonal brick pedestal raises the sculpture above the surrounding street, while the loosely indicated ship and waves keep attention on the figure and his fisherman’s net.
The young sculptor had studied in Amsterdam under Jan Bronner and Piet Esser, and he had won the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1949. Look closely at the rough stone surface: the simplified boat, waves, and fish give this outdoor work a sketch-like quality.
- City
- Utrecht
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