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COUSTENS, Pieter - b. ~1420 Burgundy, d. ~1502 Brugge - WGA

COUSTENS, Pieter

(b. ~1420 Burgundy, d. ~1502 Brugge)

Pieter Coustens (Pierre Coustain), Franco-Flemish painter and designer. He is first documented painting stained glass in Philip the Good’s Burgundian castle of Argilly in 1448 and 1452. He was appointed a painter to the Duke in January 1454, just before he worked with Colard le Voleur, Master of the Entertainments at Hesdin, on fountains and other machines for the Banquet of the Pheasant in Lille. During the next years, he was responsible for painting the banners and heralds’ tabards for several court festivities and funerals. He coloured statues of St Philip and St Elizabeth on the ducal palace in Brussels in 1462 and painted a Crucifixion and a Virgin and Child on the panels placed at the head and foot of the Duke’s catafalque in 1467.

Coat-of-Arms of Anthony of Burgundy
Coat-of-Arms of Anthony of Burgundy by

Coat-of-Arms of Anthony of Burgundy

This coat-of-arms belongs to a series of 28 which is fixed above the choir-stalls of St Saviour’s Cathedral to commemorate the 13th chapter of the order which was held there in 1478. The entire series was painted by Pieter Coustens, a court painter in Burgundy.

The coat-of-arms of Anthony of Burgundy (1421-1504), as Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Great Bastard of Burgundy, knighted during the 9th chapter in The Hague in 1456, is adorned with a helm, a crest and mantling and is enfolded by the golden chain of the order, from which a ram’s fleece hangs. The highly decorative calligraphy reads in gilt gothic letters: Antoine b[âtard] de Bourg[og]ne / Conte de la Roche en Arden[n]e[s]. The richly decorated letters which run out into flowing curls are borrowed from the fashionable calligraphy which reached a high point in the third quarter of the fifteenth century and was very popular at the sophisticated Burgundian court. Gilt curls of this kind also appear in Hans Memling’s work.

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Coat-of-Arms of Philip of Savoy
Coat-of-Arms of Philip of Savoy by

Coat-of-Arms of Philip of Savoy

This coat-of-arms belongs to a series of 28 which is fixed above the choir-stalls of St Saviour’s Cathedral to commemorate the 13th chapter of the order which was held there in 1478. The entire series was painted by Pieter Coustens.

The coat-of-arms of Philip of Savoy (b. Chamb�ry 1434) belongs to the same series as that of Anthony of Burgundy and shows the following inscription: Ph[i]l[ipp]e de Savoie Co[m]te de baug� et S[eigneur] de bresse.

Philip of Savoy was appointed knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece during the 11th chapter which was held in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in 1468. The same escutcheon, but with the insignia of another order, also appears on the reverse of the Portrait of James of Savoy, Philip’s brother.

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