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Baroque sculpture in Flanders was pictorial in character, largely decorative, restless and congested in composition. It was predominantly in wood which dissociated it from the architecture: stalls, pews, pulpits, confessionals vied in virtuosity and decorative exuberance.
The confessionals in the north aisle of the Antwerp Cathedral were executed by Kerricks, a noteworthy sculptor at Antwerp in collaboration with Michiel Vervoort the Elder (1667-1737). The picture shows a detail of the open confessionals in the north aisle. The rich oak carvings present a wide range of Christian figures and symbols. There are medallions featuring Christ and Cistercian saints beneath the frieze (the confessionals originally belonged to the Cistercian abbey in Hemiksem on the River Scheldt), while the partitions are decorated with large figures of apostles and personifications of virtues.
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