This painting, The Adoration of the Shepherds with Founders, by Pieter Pourbus, is often also called the Damhouder Triptych. This is because the biblical theme depicted on the central panel is flanked by two wings showing, on the left, the patron, Joos de Damhouder. He was a legal scholar, writer and official at various courts. Around 1533, he married Louise de Chantraines, who you can see on the right wing. She is portrayed with their ten children and their patron saints, Saint Judoc and Saint Louis. Their coats of arms are also visible on the altars before which they kneel. We know that the work was painted by Pieter Pourbus in 1574 thanks to an inscription on the left of the central panel, on the pedestal of the column. Pourbus signed the work again on the exterior wings. The two scenes, showing the Circumcision and the Adoration of the Magi, are painted in grisaille. And on the left, at the Circumcision, we can read PETRVS POVRBVS FACIEBAT (Pieter Pourbus made this) on the base of the altar. The three panels on the inside of the triptych show a continuous landscape. The composition of the scenes and the design of the frame reveal Pourbus’s interest in and knowledge of Italian art and Antiquity. The group of figures around the manger is mostly likely derived from a print by Giovanni Brito after Titian.

MASTERPIECE

The wings of this monumental triptych show the patrons Joos de Damhouder and his wife Louise de Chantraines with their children and patron saints. If you look closely, you will see that a number of the children have red crosses on their forehead. Three of the sons and three of the daughters bear the sign. But what does this mean? Perhaps, as a child, you used to get a cross from your parents or grandparents before bedtime. The tradition, which comes from a common liturgical custom, is slowly disappearing. At the baptism of children, for example, the pastor or priest makes a cross. This gesture is also often made by bereaved families on the forehead of the deceased. It represents the safety of the soul in Christ. Unfortunately, that is also why the six children here have a cross on their foreheads. They had already died when this triptych was painted.

This artwork is the property of The Church of Our Lady in Bruges and is managed by Musea Brugge.