Orley was now married and living with his wife, Agnes Zeghers, in a
house on the Senne, hard by the old Church of Saint Géry; and Zelle, who
was town physician and chief medical attendant to the Hospital of Saint
John--an institution which was founded in the twelve hundreds, and which
still exists--was his friend and near neighbour. Here there is an
unsigned picture, dated August 11, 1520--subject, the 'Death of Our
Lady'--which, tradition says, is Van Orley's work. The same year that he
painted the portrait of Georges Zelle, Orley was commissioned by the
_Aumoniers_ of Antwerp to paint an altar-piece for their chapel in the
cathedral there, for which they agreed to pay him 600 florins. This
picture is now in the Antwerp Gallery (No. 741 to No. 745)--subject, the
'Resurrection and the Seven Works of Mercy.' It is not signed.
Van Orley was now making a very considerable income, kept good company,
and was able to give good dinners. Albert Dürer, who spent a week at
Brussels in the summer of 1520, partook of one of them, and thus writes
of it in his journal: 'It was such a magnificent spread that I doubt if
Master Bernard was quit of it for ten florins. Several great folk were
present, whom Bernard had invited to bear me company; amongst others,
the Treasurer of Madame Marguerite (Jean de Marnix, Lord of Toulouse),
whose portrait I painted, the Town Treasurer (Alderman Jan Busleyden),
and the Grand Master of the Palace.'
It was no doubt owing in great measure to 'Madame Marguerite's'
patronage that 'Master Bernard' was able to show such lavish hospitality
to his friends, for though his official _gages_--as Bernard himself
informs us--was only _un patart par jour qu'est bien petite chose_,
sundry valuable privileges were attached to the office of Court painter,
and the accounts of Treasurer Marnix bear witness that Madame was
constantly giving him orders for pictures for which he was always
handsomely paid. Though Marnix describes most of them, hardly any of
these paintings have as yet been identified. There can be no doubt,
however, that one of them at least has come down to us--'un grand
tableau exquis sur la vertu de patience,' which Marguerite commissioned
Bernard to paint for her favourite minister, Count Antoine de Lalaing.
This great triptych is now in the Brussels Gallery (No. 41); it is
described in the official catalogue as _La Patience et les Epreuves de
Job_, and its authenticity is beyond question. It is signed in Latin:
'Bernardus--Dorley--Bruxellanus--Faciebat: Aº Dni MCCCCCXXI IIIIª May,'
and in Flemish--'ELX SYNE TYT. Orley 1521,' and monogramed with the
initials B.V.O. in two places.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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