The Cellier Altarpiece

The Artist: Jean Bellegambe was born in Douai, then part of the county of Flanders, probably around 1470, and lived and worked there his entire life.[1] He died in 1535 or 1536. By 1504, when he is first mentioned in Douai documents, he was a master painter and married to a wealthy woman named Marguerite, although no marriage contract survives. They had five children of whom one, their son Martin, was also a painter. Nothing is known of Bellegambe’s early training, and his name is not recorded in any guild records of other towns. However, on stylistic grounds, it appears likely that he and Jan Provoost may have trained together with the Valenciennes painter and illuminator Simon Marmion.

The Douai archives mention Bellegambe’s name after 1504 on numerous occasions where he was dealing with issues of property annuities, tax levying on wine, and involved with city council elections. Further transactions concerning properties indicate that Bellegambe was fairly affluent. Documentary evidence about Bellgambe’s oeuvre is less abundant. Existing records reveal that the artist worked not only in painting, but also made designs for such things as liturgical vestments, did gilding, and was occupied in media other than panel painting. He worked for the convent of Flines, for which he painted The Cellier Altarpiece about 1511–12; for the abbey of Anchin for which he made The Anchin Polyptych about 1511–20 (Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai); on various assignments for the chapter of the Cathedral of Cambrai in 1517–19; the collegiate church of Saint Amé, Douai between 1510–11 and 1530; the cities of Douai in 1515–16 and 1523–24 and Hénin-Lietard in 1526–27; and for the Lalaing family in 1506 and the Pottier family of Douai in 1526. Bellegambe appears to have overseen a busy workshop among whose members were his son Martin and Jacquet d’Anvers, an illuminator.

The Painting: This large triptych was discovered in 1861 in the Le Cellier chapel, the former granary or cellar of the Cistercian abbey of Clairvaux (for the most recent discussion of this altarpiece, summarized here for this entry, see Koopstra 2022, pp. 73–91). Although neither signed nor dated, the altarpiece, which features the Virgin and Child enthroned, traditionally has been identified as a commission to Jean Bellegambe by Jeanne de Boubais (d. 1534), who served as abbess of Flines from 1507 to 1533, and whose coat of arms, slightly changed by restorations, is depicted in the upper part of the right inner wing. The arms at the top of the left wing belong to the family of Saint Bernard and were used by the Cistercian order. A fervent proponent of the cult of Mary and a reformer of the Cistercian order, Saint Bernard appears on both the interior with his family and on the exterior of the triptych in the Miracle of Lactation. Flines, not far from Douai, was the site of one of the most important Cistercian convents in Flanders. As Koopstra (2022) has noted, the convent appears in the background of the interior left wing, along with the abbey church. Also depicted in the far distance are the four towers of the Benedictine abbey of Anchin.

The controversial subject portrayed on the inner panels of the altarpiece has been established as Saint Bernard, assisted by Saint Malachy, introducing his own family to the Virgin (Genaille 1952). The theme was possibly inspired by a contemporary woodcut, which served as the frontispiece to an edition of the sermons of Saint Bernard, published in Paris in 1508 (Will 1981). The Virgin and Child are seated in the central panel on a heavy throne, surrounded and crowned by music-making angels, while God the Father appears in a golden nimbus in the sky above. The richly dressed man and woman closest to the Virgin are Bernard’s pious parents, Tescelin le Saur, Lord of Fontaine, and Aleth de Montbard. Five monks in Cistercian robes and a nun in a Benedictine habit kneel in prayer behind them. They can be identified as the saint’s brothers (Guy, Gérard, André, Bartolomé, and Nivard) who converted to the Cistercian order via Bernard’s influence, and his sister, Humbeline, who is shown with the facial features of abbess Jeanne de Boubais (Genaille 1953, p. 103). On the left wing is Saint Bernard, who holds a crozier signifying his status as abbot of Clairvaux, just as a reformer and a close friend of Bernard’s, Saint Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, acts as his counterpart in the opposite wing.
Painted in grisaille on the exterior is the well-known legend associated with Saint Bernard, the miracle of lactation: when the Virgin appeared to Bernard in a vision, she miraculously wet the saint's lips with her milk. Since Mary also nurtured the infant Christ, this occurrence emphasized her role as mother of—and mediator for—all humankind.

The altarpiece responded in its Bernardine-centered iconography to contemporary reform movements. When Jeanne de Boubais was elected as abbess of Flines at the end of 1507, her superior at the abbey of Clairvaux—which Saint Bernard had founded—called for a return to stricter Benedictine rule. Guillaume de Bruxelles (William of Brussels), a cleric from Clairvaux, was sent by Jean Foucault, the abbot of Clairvaux, to Flines in 1506 to oversee these changes. The triptych’s subject would have been particularly appropriate under these circumstances, since it was Bernard who energetically carried out the first Cistercian reform of Benedictine rule (for further on the reforms, see Koopstra 2022, pp. 73, 76–77; and Pearson 1995, pp. 58–85). It has been suggested that Jeanne de Boubais, who was closely linked to the success of the reform measures, might have commissioned the painting for her superiors at Clairvaux to express her commitment to these changes (Genaille 1952 and Pearson 1995 and 2001).

Although the iconography of the altarpiece has been seen in response to the monastic reforms taking place at the abbey, Koopstra alternatively considers how unusual the presence of the family of Saint Bernard is here (Koopstra 2022, pp. 82–86). Among other considerations, it underscores the close bond between the abbey of Clairvaux and the convent of Flines in several ways that are explored by Koopstra. These alternative issues raise the question of the commission and original placement of the altarpiece. As Koopstra points out, there is, in fact, no specific evidence for Pearson’s suggestion that the altarpiece was commissioned by Jeanne de Boubais as a gift to the abbot of Clairvaux and destined for that abbey. She notes that the subject matter of the altarpiece – the iconographic references to the reforms of the convent of Flines, the recognizable sites like the abbey of Anchin in the background, and the special attention given to Humbeline (Saint Bernard’s sister) in the foreground – would seem more logical for the Flines nuns than the male audience at Clairvaux. Rather, Koopstra suggests, the iconography leans more toward impressing visitors to the convent, especially the direct superior, Jean Foucault, the abbot of Clairvaux (Koopstra 2022, p. 87).

Regrettably, there is no documentary or other evidence of the triptych’s connection to any altar or chapel at Flines. We don’t know when or how the altarpiece was relocated from its original site to the Clairvaux grange. Nor do we have any record of the abbess of Flines having commissioned the work as a show of solidarity with the reforms taking place. Koopstra suggests that an alternative behind the iconography of the commission is William of Brussels. William was the father confessor when the commission took place, had a deep knowledge of Cistercian thought, and was likely familiar with the depiction of the family of Saint Bernard at the abbey of Clairvaux due to his time as a monk there. If this new proposal is correct—that is, taking into account the present authority of William of Brussels—the altarpiece probably was commissioned before 1513, after which William left his position at Flines. This then leaves open the possibility that Bellegambe was working on The Cellier Altarpiece and The Anchin Polyptych at roughly the same time.

The Attribution and Date: The Cellier Altarpiece lacks a signature and date, but it has never been questioned as an autograph work by Jean Bellegambe. The Met's altarpiece is one of the earliest large-scale works produced by Bellegambe, who was active in the Franco-Netherlandish border town of Douai, now part of Northern France but earlier under the rule of the counts of Flanders. Influenced by both French and Flemish art currents, the artist developed an independent style, the sources of which are often difficult to pinpoint. In this triptych the landscape is similar in general atmosphere and invention to those of Joachim Patinir and Jan Provost, while the Virgin’s throne, with its exaggerated spatial recession and refined detail of ornament, reflects the decorative impulses present in Antwerp painting in the early sixteenth century.

A technical examination of the triptych was carried out in September of 2013 for the monographic study of Bellegambe’s works by Anna Koopstra (2022, pp. 75–91). Her findings are summarized here. Close study of the three panels, including with microscopic examination, revealed that the extent of the levels of finish varies, the greatest attention having been given to the central panel. The composition was carefully planned at the outset in the underdrawing. The most extensive underdrawing is in the central panel. Here, one finds horizontal and diagonal construction lines that converge at the exact center of the panel (see fig. 1 above). This secured the construction of the throne for the correct placement of the Virgin and Child. Additionally, Bellegambe employed several horizontal and vertical lines to establish the height and width of the base of the throne. The attention to careful construction of the composition through a gridlike system has not been found anywhere else in Bellegambe’s works, except for the possibility of a similar plan for Bellegambe’s Anchin Polyptych.

After developing the precise construction of the composition in the central panel, Bellegambe turned his attention to the figures. While little underdrawing was found on the interior wings and almost nothing on the exterior wings, the central panel was planned in far greater detail. In the latter, simple contour lines in both a dry and a liquid medium mapped out the principal elements of the composition, including the figures, the throne, and God the Father above the Virgin and Child. Rapidly drawn, sketchy contour lines define the heads and hands of figures. As is typical of Bellgambe’s other works, there is no hatching employed for the suggestion of the lighting system or for the creation of the volume of forms. There are no recognizable adjustments made in the underdrawing stage and very few changes from the underdrawing to the painted layers – only a slight shift raising the level of the right sleeve of the monk near the left edge of the central panel.

The most detailed attention in the underdrawing is given to the Virgin (fig. 2). While broad lines place her lower body, repeated strokes in a liquid medium attempt to place her face at an angle. Regarding the other heads in the central panel, it has been suggested that the monk and the nun closest to the Virgin are disguised portraits of Jeanne de Boubais and William of Brussels.[2] However, according to Koopstra, the similar schematic underdrawing here, as well as the generalized manner by which the faces have been executed suggests otherwise. X-radiography as well indicates that it is the head of the Virgin that has been manipulated in paint in the most subtle manner of all of the heads in the central panel (fig. 3).

As Koopstra points out, most of the changes Bellegambe made were carried out in the paint layers, as is evident from the x-radiographs (Koopstra 2021, p. 79–80). The artist continued to make alterations to the monks’ heads, to the architecture, and elsewhere to further emphasize the figures within their setting (fig. 3). Koopstra characterizes the painting technique as “straightforward, fast, and not particularly precise.” Speed and freedom of execution are typical here, although the central panel shows a more detailed work-up than the interior and exterior wings, which are more thinly painted. Also remarkable in the central panel is the extravagant use of gold leaf in an oil-based mordant gilding technique (Koopstra 2021, p. 81). This intentionally marks the difference between the heavenly realm of the background of the central panel and the earthly sphere of the landscape depicted on the wings.

Koopstra in fact speculates that the high level of finish of the central panel and its refined use of gold leaf may indicate the collaboration of the Antwerp journeyman Jacquet of Antwerp, who was varlet to Bellegambe and active in Flines in 1511–12 (Koopstra 2021, pp. 81–82). Jacquet was apparently both a painter and an illuminator. During this time a substantial amount of gold leaf was acquired by the convent from Tournai. Could the particular addition of gold effects in The Cellier Altarpiece have been the contribution of Jacquet of Antwerp? As Koopstra noted, the technical evidence of the altarpiece indicates only one hand at work, but this could have been enhanced by Jacquet, whose abilities in manuscript illumination and customary use of gold leaf may well have been an asset. Supporting this supposition is that Jacquet’s name is connected with two illuminated manuscripts made during the tenure of Jeanne de Boubais: a two-volume antiphonary (completed in 1516) and a leaf from a gradual. If Jacquet contributed to The Cellier Altarpiece, it seems to have been an isolated instance in Bellgambe’s oeuvre—an exceptional collaboration.

Scholars have generally placed the execution of The Cellier Altarpiece about 1507–09, before The Anchin Polyptych. Archival documents indicate that Bellegambe was employed by the nuns at Flines and executed several works for them between 1511–1512, when Jacquet of Antwerp also was working there. However, The Cellier Altarpiece is not mentioned in the account books at that time. Taking into account the influence of William of Brussels concerning the reforms underway at the convent, Koopstra proposes that he played a significant role in the iconography of the altarpiece and its patronage. She suggested that the altarpiece was commissioned before 1513, the date when William departed from Flines. This would mean that Bellegambe could have been working on The Cellier Altarpiece and The Anchin Polyptych at approximately the same time in 1511.

Maryan W. Ainsworth 2023

[1] The brief account of Jean Bellegambe’s life and work here is mostly derived from Koopstra (2022), pp. 7–29. For the first monograph on Bellegambe, see Chrétien Dehaisnes (1825–97), La vie et l’oeuvre de Jan Bellegambe (1890).
[2] Genaille (1952, p. 105) and Pearson (2001, p. 1362). For Koopstra’s further arguments against the identification of these heads as disguised portraits, see Koopstra 2021, p. 79.

found in the farmhouse of Le Cellier, former granary of the abbey of Clairvaux, Colombe-le-Sec, Champaigne (in 1861); baron Antoine de Tavernost, Paris (by 1906); baronne Tavernost, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Côte d'Or (until 1922; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, from 1922]; Michael Friedsam, New York (by 1927–d. 1931)

New York. F. Kleinberger Galleries. "Loan Exhibition of French Primitives and Objects of Art," October 17–November 12, 1927, no. 40 (lent by Michael Friedsam).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 22, 1998–February 21, 1999, no. 87.

Anna Koopstra. Jean Bellegambe (c. 1470–1535/36): Making, Meaning, and Patronage of His Works. Turnhout, pp. 11–13, 20–21, 50, 54–55, 62, 67, 69, 71, 73, 77–78, 82, 84, 87, 93, 95, 98–99, 102–4, 109–10, 123, figs. 60–61, 64–72, 78–79, ill. p. 72 (color, overall interior, exterior, and detail, infrared reflectogram details, x-radiograph detail, photomicrograph details, and dust jacket cover).

H. d' Arbois de Joubainville. Répertoire archéologique de l'Aube. 1861, pp. 36–37, mentions this triptych as then in the farmhouse of Le Cellier, the former granary of the abbey of Clairvaux, and calls the subject on the inside the Triumph of the Virgin.

F. de Mély. "Le Retable du Cellier." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 24 (1908), pp. 97–108, believes that the picture is signed B. J. and dated 1533 and is a work by Jean Bellegambe; suggests that the donatrix may be Jeanne de Boubais; identifies the buildings in the landscape on the [n.b., field capacity inadequate for entire text].

Louis Réau. "Une collection de primitifs français en Amérique." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 13 (January 1926), pp. 7–8, ill. between pp. 8 and 9, calls it the Triptyque de l'Abbaye Cistercienne de Flines, and agrees with de Mély's analysis.

[O. von] F[alke]. and [A.L.] M[ayer]. "New York: Französische Primitive bei Kleinberger." Pantheon 1 (January 1928), p. 52, mentions our picture as a work by Bellegambe.

Louis Réau in The Michael Friedsam Collection. [completed 1928], pp. 153–54, calls it Triptych of the Adoration of the Virgin.

Bryson Burroughs and Harry B. Wehle. "The Michael Friedsam Collection: Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27, section 2 (November 1932), pp. 6–10, ill., doubt the existence of the signature and date; identify the coat of arms on the right wing as that of a lady of the Nove, or Nouë, family from East Friesland, north Netherlands, and consider the picture an important work by Bellegambe.

Paul Wescher. "Oeuvres inconnues de Jean Bellegambe." Gazette des beaux-arts 74 (1932), p. 217, agrees with de Mély, mentioning our picture as signed and dated.

"Friedsam Bequest to be Exhibited Next November." Art News 30 (January 2, 1932), p. 13, prints Bryson Burroughs's survey of the Friedsam paintings.

Katharine Grant Sterne. "The French Primitives in the Friedsam Collection." Parnassus 4 (January 1932), p. 9, dates it 1533 and comments that it "illustrates admirably Bellegambe's progress, or regress, from the comparatively pure Flemish style of his youth, to a superficially Italianate manner".

Robert Genaille. "Jean Bellegambe, peintre de la Flandre wallonne (1er tiers du XVIe siècle) et l'école de Douai." Master's thesis, Ecole du Louvre, 1934, dates it before 1510 [see summary in Bulletin des Musées de France 6 (1934), pp. 162–64].

Max J. Friedländer. Die altniederländische Malerei. Vol. 12, Pieter Coeck Jan van Scorel. Leiden, 1935, pp. 36–38, 177, no. 119, pls. 14, 15, doubts the signature and date reported by Mély; dates it about 1511–20.

Louis Réau. French Painting in the XIVth, XVth and XVIth Centuries. London, 1939, pp. 27–28.

Ernest Lotthé. La pensée chrétienne dans la peinture flamande et hollandaise. Lille, 1947, vol. 1, p. 131, pl. CII b; vol. 2, p. 332, no. 309.

Robert Genaille in Jean Bellegambe, "le Maitre des Couleurs". Exh. cat., Musée d'Arras. Arras, 1951, pp. 9–10, dates it 1508–9.

Robert Genaille. "L'Enigme du retable du Cellier." Revue des Arts 2 (1952), pp. 99–108, ill., identifies the subject as Saint Bernard, assisted by Saint Malachy, presenting his family to the Virgin; connects the picture with an altarpiece mentioned in a document of 1509.

Robert Genaille. "Jean Bellegambe ou Gobin de Valenciennes?" Revue belge d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art 21 (1952), pp. 59–61.

Robert Genaille. "La Déploration du Christ du Musée de Varsovie et les débuts de Jean Bellegambe." Revue des Arts 3 (September 1953), pp. 155–56, 162–63.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 8, as "The Retable of Le Cellier".

Charles Sterling. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings. Vol. 1, XV–XVIII Centuries. Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 18–21, ill., discusses the subject and the identification of the figures; observes that the style of the painting suggests a date as early as 1509.

Robert Genaille. "Deux oeuvres de Jean Bellegambe." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, année 1960, (1961), pp. 84, 88, fig. 3 (detail).

Robert Genaille. "L'Annonciation de Bellegambe à L'Ermitage." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 57 (January 1961), p. 6.

Robert Genaille. "Communications: Reconstitution d'un triptyque de Bellegambe." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, année 1961, (1962), pp. 9–10, 13, 16, 18.

Robert Genaille. "Le Retable de Varsovie "la Deploration" de Jean Bellegambe." Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie 4 (1963), pp. 46, 48, fig. 4 (detail).

Robert Genaille. "Communications: Le vrai sujet du polyptyque d'Anchin." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, année 1964, (1965), pp. 17, 23.

Robert Genaille. "L'oeuvre de Jean Bellegambe." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 87 (January 1976), pp. 7, 17–18, no. 4, figs. 5, 6 (detail), ill. on cover (detail), catalogues it as Glorification de la famille de Saint Bernard, an altarpiece commissioned in about 1508 by Jeanne de Boubais, and completed in 1509; observes that the saint on the right wing must be Guillaume de Bourges, rather than Saint Malachy.

Elisabeth Heller. Das altniederländische Stifterbild. PhD diss., Universität München. Munich, 1976, p. 175, no. 35.

Katharine Baetjer. "Pleasures and Problems of Early French Painting." Apollo 106 (November 1977), pp. 342–43, fig. 6 (detail).

Robert Genaille. "Jean Bellegambe de Douai et la tentation du manierisme." Archives de l'art français: A travers l'art français, n.s., 25 (1978), p. 125.

Robert Will. "Une peinture murale, datée de 1504, se trouvant jadis en l'église Saint-Guillaume de Strasbourg: Contribution à l'iconographie de saint Bernard." Cahiers alsaciens d'archéologie, d'art et d'histoire 24 (1981), pp. 124–25, calls our altarpiece a liberal interpretation of a woodcut (fig. 4) that served as the frontispiece to the sermons of Saint Bernard ("Sermones de tempore et de sanctis de saint Bernard de Clairvaux," Jean Petit, Paris), the earliest edition of which was apparently first published in 1508, although an edition of 1500, not necessarily including the same frontispiece, is listed in a nineteenth-century sale catalogue; observes that this engraving was widely known among Cistercians and is certain that Bellegambe was familiar with the image, in which Saint Bernard, the Virgin, and Saint Malachy O'Morgair (identified with banderoles) are shown standing on columns below which the family of Saint Bernard is represented; reproduces a painting of 1534 by Nicolas Kremer (fig.3) in the convent of Lichtenthal, near Baden-Baden, that more literally follows the composition of the woodcut; dates our triptych about 1530.

Introduction by James Snyder in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Renaissance in the North. New York, 1987, pp. 136–37, ill. (color).

Nikolai Nikulin. Netherlandish Paintings in Soviet Museums. Oxford, 1987, unpaginated, see discussion relating to pls. 81–89.

Andrea Gail Pearson. "Gender, Image, and Ideals at the Cistercian Convent of Flines, 1500–1575." PhD diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995, pp. 226–34, 240, 243–47, 249–52, 256, 284–89, 292–95, 299–300, 409–11, no. 3, figs. 18, 30–32 (overall, exterior wings, details), believes the 1508 woodcut discussed and reproduced by Will [Ref. 1981] loosely inspired the theme of our triptych, generally dated 1509/10; sees our altarpiece as a gift from Jeanne de Boubais to Jean Foucault, abbot of Clairvaux, who initiated reform at Flines and regularly corresponded with her on the subject.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 352, ill.

Mary Sprinson de Jesús in From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 64, 332–34, no. 87, ill. (color).

Cyriel Stroo et al. The Flemish Primitives: Catalogue of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Vol. 3, The Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Bouts, Gerard David, Colijn de Coter and Goossen van der Weyden Groups. Brussels, 2001, p. 346 n. 15.

Andrea G. Pearson. "Nuns, Images, and the Ideals of Women's Monasticism: Two Paintings from the Cistercian Convent of Flines." Renaissance Quarterly 54 (Winter 2001), pp. 1356–62, 1365, 1380, 1382, 1386–87, 1390–92, 1394–95, figs. 1–3 (overall and details), notes that Margaret of Austria, in a letter of November 16, 1509, informed the convent of Flines of accusations of serious transgressions within the community, including the theft of valuable church possessions and revenues, charges which were determined to be erroneous after a fifteen day investigation; argues that these events precipitated the commission of this altarpiece, as it was a means for the abbess, Jeanne de Boubais, to suggest her compliance with the mandates of reform.

Burton L. Dunbar. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: German and Netherlandish Paintings, 1450–1600. Kansas City, Mo., 2005, p. 166, ill.

Andrea Pearson. Envisioning Gender in Burgundian Devotional Art, 1350–1530: Experience, Authority, Resistance. Aldershot, England, 2005, p. 141, fig. 49, ill.

John Oliver Hand et al. Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2006, pp. 31, 309 n. 5, fig. 1 (color), discusses our altarpiece in relation to the portrait of Jeanne de Boubais in the Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh.

Nico van Hout et al. Anmut und Andacht: Das Diptychon im Zeitalter von Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling und Rogier van der Weyden. Exh. cat., Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. Stuttgart, 2007, p. 63 [shorter European cat., which also appeared in French and Dutch, based on Washington cat., "Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych"].

Anna Koopstra. "Visualizing the Divine: New Insights into Jean Bellegambe's Working Methods." Imaging Utopia: New Perspectives on Northern Renaissance Art. Ed. Julie Beckers et al. Paris, 2021, pp. 75–77, 79, 85, figs. 7.1–7.4 (color, overall, infrared reflectogram details, and color photomicrograph detail), states that "although there is no clear indication for the involvement of more than one hand . . . it seems possible that the Antwerp journeyman Jacquet was assisting Bellegambe on this particular work"; dates it to "the year directly preceding or following 1511/12," when both painters were at Flines.

Anna Koopstra and Michael Carter. A Medallion of Abbess Jacqueline de Lalaing of Flines 165 (November 2023), pp. 1177, 1179–80, figs. 5, 12 (color, overall interior and closed exterior).