The master of the view of Saint Gudula - An altarpiece for the Carmelites

In 1921, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium acquired a Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple, which was given to the Master of the View of Saint Gudula and forms part of a larger ensemble. Recently, three other fragments have entered the museum collections. The paintings on the reverse of these newly acquired fragments demonstrate they were part of an altarpiece that depicted the Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple and The Visitation, with Saint Ursula and Saint Simon Stock Receiving the Scapular from the Hands of the Virgin Mary.

The present publication examines these altarpiece panels in the context of the production of the Master of the View of Saint Gudula and, more generally, his relationship with the Carmelites. The iconographic study will reveal how the artist appropriated Rogier van der Weyden’s immensely popular models and how he fulfilled the demands of his patrons. Several essays report on the results of the research and analyses undertaken during the restoration of the various fragments, a proposed reconstruction of the original altarpiece, and a study of the Master’s painterly technique. 

Sommaire

Introduction
Véronique Bücken

An altarpiece for the Carmelites. Iconographic study
Véronique Bücken

Technological and material study and restoration of the wings of the Altarpiece of the Carmelites
Étienne Costa & Géraldine Van Overstraeten

Study of wooden supports
Étienne Costa

A macro-to-microscale scientific investigation of The Visitation panel
Francisco-Mederos-Henry, Steven de Meyer, Frederik Vanmeert & Jana Sanyova

The history of the Carmeli

te convent in Brussels
Alain Jacobs

The pictorial technique of the Master at the service of his style
Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren

The Master of the View of Saint Gudula: an anonymous painter and his studio
Véronique Bücken

PLATES

Bibliography

The King Baudouin Foundation and the Périer-D’Ieteren Foundation