All that is most interesting in Bruges is, somehow or other, associated
with the Church of Notre Dame, and here, though his palace was in the
parish of St. Jacques, Bladelin founded a chantry, which he dedicated to
St. Margaret, the patron saint of his wife. It is the second chapel off
the northern ambulatory, but is now completely shut off from the rest of
the church and converted into a chamber for the _marguilliers_. Together
with some interesting old pictures, and a few quaint pieces of
furniture, it contains the only ancient stained-glass window in the
Church of Notre Dame. This relic, however, is in no way connected with
the Lord of Middelburg, and dates only from the year 1520.
Peter Bladelin died on the 6th of April 1462, and was buried in the
parish church of the town which he had founded.
There is still in existence in the museum at Berlin a portrait of the
worthy Peter. It was painted by Roger van der Weyden, or, as he is
sometimes called, Roger of Bruges, the most famous of the pupils of John
van Eyck (1400-1464) and is one of the master's last and most perfect
works. It is in the form of a triptych, and was undoubtedly painted for
the church at Middelburg, where it most probably remained until the
opening years of the sixteen hundreds, for a copy on canvas of about
this date is still in possession of the church. It was discovered in
1854 by Canon Andries, at that time parish priest, behind a panel in the
wall of the presbytery kitchen. He had it restored and placed it in the
chancel over Bladelin's tomb. The subject is the Nativity of Our Lord,
and the artist's method of treating it is a curious and unusual one.
_Lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuæ Israël_; this must
have been the text which inspired him. In the central panel the Divine
Infant is lying on the ground, adored by His Blessed Mother, St. Joseph
and angels. On the left the Cumæan Sibyl is showing the Emperor
Augustus, through the open lattice window of a typical Flemish
apartment, an apparition of the 'Light to enlighten the Gentiles.' The
Emperor, arrayed in the richly-embroidered garments of the fourteen
hundreds, is in a kneeling posture, and holds his cap in one hand,
whilst with the other he offers incense from a Gothic thurible. On the
right-hand panel are the Magi presenting their gifts, and along with
them Bladelin himself kneeling in adoration, whilst, in the background,
is a view of the town of Middelburg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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