ORLEY, Bernaert van

The triptych was commissioned by Margaret of Austria for the church of Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse).

The reverse side of the altarpiece represents the coat-of-arms of the Habsburgs of Austria (left), Portugal (right), Philip II (centre), the Dukes of Burgundy (lower left) and the Bourbons (lower right).

A winged altarpiece was commissioned from the young Orley by the Guild of Stonemasons and Carpenters for the �glise du Sablon in Brussels. The Guild had two patron saints, Thomas and Matthew and the altarpiece was dedicated to them. The altarpiece was later dismembered, the central panel being now in Vienna while the two wing panels in Brussels.

The picture shows the left part of the central panel with the scene of Doubting Thomas.

The centre of the triptych offers Christ’s entombment to our contemplation. The Virgin, St John, Mary Magdalene and the two Maries surround the corpse a few moments before its burial. Tears stream down their faces like translucent pearls and the brownish shadows underline their painful expressions. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus appear in the rear, awkwardly linked to the group by the presence of the crown of thorns reminding us that it is they who took Christ down from the cross.

Van Orley has removed the scene from its historical context, taking out any narrative element, other than a corner of the stone tomb visible to the bottom right, and focusing attention on the persons pressed one against another against the gilded background. This converts the entombment into an act of devotion, continuing the tradition of the Flemish Primitives. On the other hand, the fluid shapes, the monumental nature of the figures and certain attitudes point to the influence of D�rer and of Italian artists. Van Orley, who was also a well-known decorator and designer of tapestries and stained glass windows, repeats the same composition, with the addition of a landscape background and the tomb, in a tapestry conserved at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Ancient literary sources tell us that the work was commissioned from Van Orley by Philippe Haneton around 1520, to be placed above the family tomb in the church of St Gudule in Brussels. The donor held high political office, having been appointed first secretary of the Grand Council by Charles V in 1518, and tasked with judging petitions for audiences with the emperor. He was also the treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is shown on the left wing, surrounded by his seven sons. The donor’s wife, Marguerite Numan, accompanied by her five daughters, is shown on the right wing, under the protection of Margaret of Antioch.

When closed the triptych shows the Annunciation painted in grisaille.

Ancient literary sources tell us that the work was commissioned from Van Orley by Philippe Haneton around 1520, to be placed above the family tomb in the church of St Gudule in Brussels. The donor held high political office, having been appointed first secretary of the Grand Council by Charles V in 1518, and tasked with judging petitions for audiences with the emperor. He was also the treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is shown on the left wing, surrounded by his seven sons. Behind him is the silhouette of his patron saint, the apostle Philip, recognisable by the attribute of his martyrdom, the cross on which he is supposed to have been crucified head-down.

The donor’s wife, Marguerite Numan, accompanied by her five daughters, is shown on the right wing, under the protection of Margaret of Antioch. This saint’s attributes remind the viewer that she rebuffed the temptation of Satan, who had appeared in the form of a dragon, by brandishing the cross.

The infant running to his mother initiates a diagonal train of movement which leads through Mary to the kindly, ageing Joseph behind. The grouping of the main figures thus introduces both asymmetry and depth to the pictorial plane. With great artistic intelligence, Orley balances this on the left by means of the two angels parallel to the plane, one approaching with a wicker basket of flowers and one hovering overhead and bearing a golden crown. Christ serves to link together the various elements of the painting. His left hand reaches up to his mother’s shoulder, his eyes are raised towards the crown with which he will one day make Mary Queen of Heaven, while his right arm gestures towards the apple in Joseph’s hand - a symbol of the sin which Jesus has come to conquer.

Orley can here be seen as a painter mediating between two stylistic eras. While lovingly executed details of material and texture remain the prominent focus of his interest, he also acknowledges the masters of the High Renaissance in his skilful balancing of depth and plane and in his delicate gradation of colour in the receding landscape. Orley is known both as a painter of large altarpieces and as a portraitist.

Thanks to the attractive Latin inscription around the edge of the tapestry ornamenting the back of the painting, we know the name and profession of the person portrayed. It is Joris van Zelle, born in 1491 at Leuven where he studied medicine. As early as 1522 he was appointed physician of the city of Brussels, practising at St John’s Hospital until 1561. He was a neighbour and probably a friend of Bernard van Orley. Both lived at the Place Saint-G�ry, the first at the corner of the Rue de la Digue, the second opposite the church entrance, and both belonged to the De Corenbloem rhetoric chamber. Van Zelle died in 1567 and was buried in the Church of St Gudule, next to his wife, Barbara Spapen. The archives describe him as a ‘medicus celeberrimus”.

The portrait renders homage as much to the humanist as to the bibliophile, surrounded by books that are remarkable for their precious bindings. The 32 works from his library, which are conserved to this day in Augsburg, most of them medical treatises, are elegantly and expensively bound. Wearing a felt hat and a fur-lined coat, the young 28-year old practitioner is taking notes, with his ink-well and quill-case hanging behind him. The significance of the joined hands and the ANVTEFQS monogram decorating the tapestry remain unclarified until this day. Do they allude to the understanding between the artist and his model? This has been suggested, but the mystery remains. Psychological depth is not the primary quality of this portrait.

We remain surprised by the physician’s slightly lifeless face. The artist carefully and realistically renders the strong-boned nose and firmly-drawn mouth, but fails to capture the feelings, intelligence or erudition of his subject. On the other hand, Van Orley renders almost palpable the warm, limited space surrounding the physician and reflects so well the humanist atmosphere that one feels that one has been admitted into Dr Van Zelle’s wainscoted cabinet, as his painter friend probably was. The lively interaction of warm and delicately-shaded reds, greens and browns, the careful painting of the materials, with the viewer immediately able to sense the differences in texture, and the tight framing, all strengthen the sense of intimacy between the sitter and the viewer.

This tapestry is from the series of The Hunts of Maximilian. Praising hunting as the sport of the noblemen, the tapestries recorded the preparation for the hunt, the setting out, the hunt itself and the feast, according to the twelve months of the year. The tapestries were woven after the design by Bernaert van Orley in the Brussels workshop of Jan and Willem Dermoyen between 1531 and 1533.

Karel van Mander praised Van Orley mainly for his work as a tapestry designer. The artist enjoyed the most success in this area since he fundamentally transformed the art of Flemish tapestry. In contrast with the earlier, planar, static and overcrowded wall carpets, he designed spacious, perspectival compositions with dynamic figures defined by joint activities.

The subject of this painting was the most famous ruler of the sixteenth century. The son of the Castilian King Philip of Burgundy and Mad Joanna, he ascended the Spanish throne in 1516. In 1519 he became Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and for nearly forty years was the leading figure in European politics. The Habsburg lip is already visible in this youthful and somewhat idealized portrait. In his later years the Emperor was also painted several times by Titian, for whom he sat in Augsburg. Bernaert van Orley, the master of this portrait, was court painter to the two women regents, Margaret of Austria and her successor, Mary of Hungary. Orley made a portrait of him in 1515, too, but this painting is known only from copies.

Margaret of Austria was the Governess of the Netherlands. The painter was probably asked to tone down all her personal features. Her left hand is raised in a gesture of speaking. The strict half-profile facing left is the predominant element of the portrait.

Margaret of Austria was the Governess of the Netherlands.

In his own day, van Orley was called the Raphael of the North, which speaks rather more for Raphael’s fame than it does for northern judgment. His principal patrons were successive Regents of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary. Van Orley is at his best in portraits.

Van Orley’s Romulus Gives Laws to the Roman People, one of four signed and dated drawings for an unrealized or lost tapestry series on the early history of Rome, reflects Raphael’s influence. Enthroned in a classicizing loggia, rendered in correct perspective, Romulus dispenses sealed documents to the two elderly dramatic men in the foreground. Like Raphael, Van Orley stressed their cast shadows and clear physical placements. Others look with great interest or talk animatedly. Their clothing is the sort of pseudo-antique attire that Gossaert and others favoured. Raphael and now Van Orley designed their tapestries much like large-scale paintings.

This tapestry design by Van Orley mixes Renaissance architecture and ornament, armor all’antica, and figures and expressions inspired by D�rer’s prints. The artist’s cursory drawing style, which is especially noticeable in his background figures, echoes the style of some of Jan Gossart’s more loosely drawn sheets.

The subject of this scene is not identified.

This drawing was made for the commissioner of the tapestry series of The Hunts of Maximilian. Praising hunting as the sport of the noblemen, the tapestries recorded the preparation for the hunt, the setting out, the hunt itself and the feast, according to the twelve months of the year. The tapestries were woven after the design by Bernaert van Orley in the Brussels workshop of Jan and Willem Dermoyen between 1531 and 1533.

The drawing was prepared for the tapestry corresponding to the month of November which depicts the preparation for the sharing out the food from the prey.

The majestic arched composition, borrowed from Raphael, the scientific representation of the numerous, animated nude figures, and the dull, brownish but smooth colouring already point to the strongly Italianate tendency in the painting of Van Orley.

The subject of the side panels is the Seven Acts of Mercy.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 8 minutes):

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem K 626: Dies irae

The triptych, which was very likely commissioned by Margaret of Austria, the governor of the Low Countries, depicts two biblical episodes illustrating the virtues of patience: the Book of Job and the parable of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. Since the Middle Ages it had been common practice to draw a parallel between the resignation of Job and of Lazarus in the face of misfortune and the constancy of their faith in God.

On the inside of the triptych, the story of Job begins on the left wing. Whilst in heaven Satan proposes to God to test the faith of this wealthy man, the faithful servant of Good, the first calamities rain down. Job’s entire flocks are led off by the Sabeans. On the central panel, the unleashed forces of evil bring down the palace, killing Job’s sons and daughters. The painter accentuates the dramatic character of the scene by numerous foreshortenings and obliques, which have the effect of pushing the picture towards the spectator. In the background countryside scene, we see Job himself sacrificing to God; to the right, naked and covered with sores, he is being cursed by his wife. On the right inner wing, Job has recovered his earlier wealth and descends the steps of his palace towards his former friends who implore his intercession.

Van Orley creates his masterpiece by marrying the Flemish tradition with the new directions of Italian art and his own inventiveness. The result is a veritable profession of faith in the Renaissance, underlined by the artist’s motto, “Elx syne tyt” (each in his time) inscribed on the pillar to the left of the central panel.

Van Orley, court painter to the regent Margaret of Austria, was active during the short interval when the notion of the antique was just coming into being. Significantly, his architectural constructions fall mostly in the period from the late 1510s through the 1520s, a period between the unchallenged authority of an international Late Gothic manner and the introduction of antique forms into built architecture. Highly ornate forms were prized at the time for their delicacy and intricacy. Van Orley’s triptych of Virtue of Patience (called also Job Triptych) typifies this visually abundant manner. The pavilion housing the children of Job, in the central panel, is supported by rich piers formed of quadruple joined colonnettes and decorated with medallions, rams’ heads, and garlands.

The pavilion housing the children of Job, in the central panel, is supported by rich piers formed of quadruple joined colonnettes and decorated with medallions, rams’ heads, and garlands.

The triptych, which was very likely commissioned by Margaret of Austria, the governor of the Low Countries, depicts two biblical episodes illustrating the virtues of patience: the Book of Job and the parable of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. Since the Middle Ages it had been common practice to draw a parallel between the resignation of Job and of Lazarus in the face of misfortune and the constancy of their faith in God.

When closed, the triptych depicts the parable of Lazarus. At the bottom of the wings, divided into three symmetrical registers, Lazarus is dying at the rich man’s gate, whilst the latter suffers eternal torment. The Italianate pose, and the monumentality and beauty of the nude are inspired by Raphael. In the centre, the rich man’s feast, followed by his agony, take place in a sumptuous mansion. His wife, bringing him communion, and the physician, examining his urine, are looking after him whilst, in hell, two demons are torturing him, presenting him with a chalice writhing with serpents and a bowl filled with an infernal liquid. At the top, Lazarus’ soul rises up to heaven in the form of a child, first held up by two angels in a transparent bubble, then in the bosom of Abraham.

Van Orley creates his masterpiece by marrying the Flemish tradition with the new directions of Italian art and his own inventiveness. The result is a veritable profession of faith in the Renaissance, underlined by the artist’s motto, “Elx syne tyt” (each in his time) inscribed on the pillar to the left of the central panel.

The style of this painting is close to that of Quentin Massys.

The “Romanist” style was introduced to the North by - among others - Bernaert van Orley, whose adoption of the new style came secondhand through Raphael’s designs for the Act of the Apostles tapestry series and other drawings brought from Rome to Brussels in 1520. In the present painting Van Orley borrows the pose of his figures from Raphael.

The painting received its name after the fact that it was presented by the city of Louvain to Philip II in 1588. At that time, it was attributed to Jan Gossart, but its characteristics point to van Orley as its true author. Philip II gave the painting to the Monastery of El Escorial in 1598.