Bernard Van Orley - Paintings

Paintings

One of his earliest signed works dates from 1512 : the "Triptych of the Carpenters and Masons Corporation of Brussels", also called the Apostle Altar (the central panel in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the side panels in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). It recounts the lives of two apostles Thomas and Matthew. It was originally commissioned for a chapel in the Church of Our-Lady-at-the-Zavel (Notre-Dame at the Sablon) in Brussels.

In his early works he continued the traditions of Jan van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden and their followers. But then he gradually began integrating the Italianate motifs of the Renaissance, and representing figure types and the spatial relationship such as found in the works of Raphael.

In 1515 he was asked to take over the commission of a triptych for the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross in a chapel in the Sint-Walburga church in Veurne. He finished and delivered it in 1522. The left panel is on display in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. The front shows Saint Helena meeting the pope in an architectural setting of Renaissance buildings and Italianate motifs. The back is a grisaille painting of Christ falling under the Cross. The right panel is on display in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, showing Charlemagne receiving the relics of the Passion.

From 1515 on, he and his workshop received many orders for portraits, including from the royal family and from people connected to the court. In 1516 he painted seven portraits of Charles, who had just become King of Spain, and portraits of his brother Ferdinand, the later King of Hungary, and his four sisters (destined for the King of Denmark).

The 1516 painted copy of the Shroud of Turin, commonly attributed to Albrecht Dürer, is also sometimes attributed to Bernard van Orley.

By 1517 he was recognized as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke.

On 23 May 1518 he was appointed as the official court painter to the Regent of the Netherlands Margarete of Austria, replacing Jacopo d'Barbari. In this position, he became the head of an important workshop, making him one of the first entrepreneurial artists in Northern Europe. With this workshop he produced paintings and, especially after 1525, became a leading designer of tapestry cartoons and stained glass windows. He held this position till 1527 when he, his family and several other artists, fell in disgrace because of their Protestant sympathies. The family van Orley fled Brussels and settled in Antwerp. Five years later, when he was reinstated by the new Regent of the Netherlands Maria of Austria, he returned to Brussels. After his death in 1541, he was succeeded as court painter by his pupil Michael Coxcie.

Among his most important paintings is the "Triptych of Virtue of Patience" (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels), also called the Job altarpiece, commissioned in 1521 by Margaret of Austria to illustrate a poem she wrote about the virtue of patience. The interior panels represent the trials of Job, while the outer panels recount the parable of Lazarus and Dives (instead of the usual grisaille paintings of saints). This triptych is completely by the hand of Bernard van Orley. He must have been especially proud of his work as he signed it twice and added his coat of arms and tiwice his monogram BVO and the motto 'ELX SYNE TYT' (each his own time). This relates to his artistic opinion that an artist should be a man fully integrated in his time.

The same museum houses another triptych by the same painter : the "Haneton triptych ". This triptych was commissioned by Philippe Haneton, first secretary in the Secret Counsel of Charles V. The middle panel depicts a poignant pietà against an archaic golden background, painted in a very personal style with influences of the Flemish Primitives and Albrecht Dürer. Bernard van Orley was, together with Jan Gossaert, among the first to introduce strong musculature in Flemish paintings. The left panel shows Philippe Haneton and his sons, and the right panel his wife and her daughters.

The triptych "The Last Judgment" (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen), painted on commission by the almoners of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp in 1525, is one of his best works through its originality and his mastership. The paintings in grisaille on the back were executed by Peter de Kempeneer, who was, at that time, an apprentice in the workshop of Bernard van Orley.

The Altarpiece of Calvary in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Bruges, dates from 1534. It was commissioned by Margaret of Austria originally for the funeral monument in the church of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse in Burgundy. The side panels were finished much later by Marcus Gerards the Elder and brought to Bruges by Margaret of Parma, regent of the Netherlands under king Philip II of Spain. The central part represent the Calvary, the left panel the Crown of Thorns, the Scourging of Christ and Christ carrying the Cross. The right panel depicts the Pietà and the Limbo of the Just.

His portraits were more subdued and thoughtful, such as his portraits of Charles V and Margarete of Austria. He usually represents his subjects in a seated static position, their expressionless faces without much psychological depth or feelings. His workshop produced several copies of these portraits, especially the portrait of Charles V. They were offedred as gift to visitors or courtiers.

He represents saints usually in a full-length portrait, such as his "Mary with Child and John the Baptist" (Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv nr 1932) with behind them in the background an open colonnade, a baldachin or a set of trees. This type of composition can be found in many 16th century paintings.

Bernard van Orley often signed his paintings, especially in his early period before 1521, with the coat of arms of the Seigneurs d'Orley : argent two pallets gules. It had been contended that these are the signature of his father Valentin

When Albrecht Dürer visited the Netherlands in 1520 in order to be present at the coronation of the new emperor, Charles V, he called Barend van Orley flatteringly "the Raphael of the Netherlands". Dürer, who stayed as a guest in the house of Bernard van Orley between 27 August and 2 September 1520, also painted a portrait which some scholars identify with van Orley's. Dürer had a profound influence on Van Orley who would in his later works try to find a synthesis between him and other Renaissance master, Raphael.

Some important pupils of his were Michael Coxcie, Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Pieter de Kempeneer, who continued in the style of Romanism. Other pupils, such as Lancelot Blondeel and Jan Vermeyen continued in the tradition of painter-designer of their master.

Together with Jan Gossaert and Quentin Matsys, Bernard van Orley is regarded as one of the leading innovators of the 16th century Flemish painting, by adopting the style and manner of the Italian Renaissance. His paintings are executed with great care about minute details and stand out by their brilliant colours.