Amongst Marguerite's numerous bequests to the Church of Brou were some
beautiful paintings by Bernard van Orley, which Marie was exceedingly
loath to part with, and she therefore arranged with her aunt's executors
to keep them, and to present to the Church of Brou, by way of
compensation, a triptych for the high altar, hence the commission to the
Court painter of January 12, 1534; but the _beau exquis et puissant
tableau_, which was the outcome of this arrangement, was not destined to
adorn the altar for which it had been ordered. Though Bernard had worked
at it eight years, when he died, on the 21st of January 1542, it was
still unfinished, and eight years later the canons of Notre-Dame, at
Bruges, who were at this time preparing their church for the reception
of the relics of Charles the Bold, purchased it from Van Orley's heirs
for 286 _livres tournois_. The three great panels of _bois de Danemarck_
were conveyed to Bruges in as many wagons, and set up behind the high
altar in the old Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, where they still
remain, but how much or how little of Van Orley's work is displayed on
them is another question: the triptych was completed by the Bruges
painter, Marc Geerhaerds, in 1561, and about thirty years later the
central panel was entirely repainted and the wings retouched by François
Pourbus. This picture has been removed from its original position, and
now hangs on the west wall of the south aisle--subject, scenes from the
Passion.
Of Bernard van Orley's signed paintings only four have come down to
us:--the Job triptych and the Zelle portrait at Brussels, the Holy
Family at Stockholm, signed B. v. Orley, but not dated, and an
altar-piece at Vienna, showing the death of Saint Thomas and the
election of Saint Mathias, and signed Bernardus van Orley, but not
dated. This picture is the central panel of a triptych which was
formerly in the Church of Notre-Dame du Sablon; the wings are now in the
Brussels Gallery (No. 44A). Open, they represent the Incredulity of
Saint Thomas and the Martyrdom of Saint Mathias, and shut, the same
saints in grisaille, and six kneeling figures, doubtless the donors.
From the fact that four small carpenter's tools are painted on the back
of each of the shutters, it is likely enough that this triptych was
ordered by or for the Carpenters' Guild--a wealthy corporation
intimately connected with the Sablon Church. We know nothing of its
history.
The portrait of Georges Zelle is without question Van Orley's
masterpiece. In colour, composition, technique, this picture is quite
perfect. It was his last effort in the old style, and it gives him the
right to an honourable place in the ranks of the great masters of the
old national school.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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