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

The Norfolk Triptych (verso)

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

The picture shows the reverse side of the side wings of the so-called Norfolk Triptych. On a pair of trompe-l'oeil parchment sheets attached with little balls of red wax to the marbleised panels, are verses from Psalm 51 in Latin. These verses, traditionally referred to as the Miserere, belong to one of the most familiar of the Penitential Psalms.