Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Cities of Belgium: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Belgium -- Guidebooks
The =end chapel= of the right aisle, that of the Holy Sacrament,
contains a celebrated and noble white marble =**Madonna and Child, by
Michael Angelo=, enshrined in a black marble niche. The pensive, grave,
and graceful face, the exquisite modelling of the dainty naked Child,
and the beautiful infantile pose of its left hand, all betray a design
of Michael Angelo, though the execution may possibly have been left to
pupils. But the modelling is softer and more feminine than is usual with
this great sculptor, except in his early period. In this respect, it
resembles most the unfinished Madonna in the Bargello at Florence.
Condivi mentions that Peter Mouscron of Bruges ordered of Michael Angelo
a Madonna and Child in bronze: he was probably mistaken as to the
material: and we have here doubtless the work in question. Apart from
its great artistic value, this exquisite group is interesting as
affording another link between Flanders and Italy.
The same chapel also contains some good 17th century pictures.
Near the confessional, as we return towards the West End of the church,
we find a good diptych of Herri met de Bles, of 1520, containing, _left
panel_, an Annunciation, with all the conventional elements; to the
left, as usual, is the angel Gabriel; to the right, Our Lady. These
relative positions are never altered. The lilies in the pot, the desk
and book, the bed with its furniture, the arcade in the background, and
the rich brocade, are all constant features in pictures of this subject.
Look out for them elsewhere. The _right panel_ has the Adoration of the
Magi, with the Old, Middle-aged, and Young Kings, the last-named a Moor.
This quaint and interesting work of a Flemish painter, with its archaic
background, and its early Italian reminiscences, also betrays the
influence of Dürer. Among the other pictures may be mentioned a triptych
in an adjacent small chapel: the _central panel_ shows the
Transfiguration, with the three apostles below, Moses, Elias, and the
Eternal Father above (perhaps by Jan Mostart). On the _wings_ (much
later, by P. Pourbus), are the portraits of the donor, his wife, and
their patron saints.
The =West Wall= of the church has several large pictures of the later
Renaissance, which can be sufficiently inspected on their merits by
those who care for them. The best of them are the Adoration of the Magi
by Seghers, and De Crayer’s Adoration of the Infant Jesus. I do not
propose to deal at length with later Flemish art till we reach Brussels
and Antwerp: at Bruges, it is best to confine oneself to the
introductory period of Flemish painting—that of the Burgundian princes.
I will therefore only call attention here to the meaningless way in
which huge pictures like B. van Orley’s Crucifixion, with subsidiary
scenes from the Passion, reproduce the form of earlier winged pictures,
which becomes absurd on this gigantic scale.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account