Late medieval choir stalls and the search for their maker

Late medieval choir stalls and the search for their maker

Video created by Christel Theunissen

Christel Theunissen, a graduate student at Radboud University, has created this video introducing the research she is doing on medieval choir stalls. She explains, “Choir stalls are part of medieval church furniture in Europe. The woodcarvings on these seats for the clergy consist of religious and mostly profane subjects, such as the topsy-turvy world, fabulous creatures and the representation of proverbs.

“My research focuses on the craftsmen who worked on choir stalls and one of these in particular: Jan Borchmans. He appears in contemporary sources as the joiner who made four sets of choir stalls in the Southern Netherlands. His productivity gives rise to a number of questions: What was his position as joiner? Who worked with him? Was he responsible only for the execution or was he also involved in deciding the content? Secondly, the carvings he produced for the choir stalls in Aarschot and Oirschot are being studied in this PhD research. What is their meaning and to what extent can these subjects be place in the late medieval iconographic tradition?

“What I like the most about my research is the mysteriousness that still surrounds the late medieval choir stalls and their exceptional iconography. Furthermore, I like the fact that I can visit my research object with friends and family.”

You can learn more about Christel Theunissen’s research on her Academia.edu page