GOSSART, Jan
(b. ca. 1478, Maubeuge, d. 1532, Middelburg)

The Norfolk Triptych (right wing)

1525-30
Oil on oak panel, 70 x 24 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

The two wings in Brussels represent the donors of a triptych, the central panel of which, conserved at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, shows a Virgin and Child. Probably man and wife, they are kneeling on "prie-dieus". She is looking to the left and has her hands joined, he is looking at the viewer and is holding a psalter. The couple is richly dressed - a distinctive sign of its high social position - but also soberly. The donatrix is enveloped in a white veil and wears a black, lined robe with red braiding and sleeves, revealing a slightly transparent chemisette, and with a fur thrown over her shoulders. The donor wears a fur-lined coat, a brown jacket and a white shirt with a finely embroidered collar.