J.S.C. Schoufour (1927-2014)
Jacques Simon Cornelis Schoufour’s interest in wooden statues stemmed from his youth. As a child he showed great interest in wood and tried to carve little figures with a knife. It was only years later that his interest was caught by wood from the Middle Ages. In the 1970s he and his wife began putting together a splendid collection, which finally totalled more than sixty items.
Schoufour was particularly interested in sculpture from the Late Gothic period, from 1350 to 1550. Originally these figures were almost always polychromed – painted in bright colours and often gilded; it was figures like this that Schoufour sought out. He and his wife arranged to gift the collection to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. It is now part of a small, attractive collection of medieval wood and stone sculptures.
