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Tweeluik met de Kruisdraging en een portret van een minderbroeder

Jan Provoost (schilder)
This is a Flemish Masterpiece
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Period and date
(exact 1522) 16de eeuw

MASTERPIECE

On the back of the diptych, Jan Provoost prompts us to consider the transience of life. The skull, placed in a niche, reminds us of our own mortality. The rebus on the frame further reinforces this message. The exact ‘translation’ of this inscription into Middle French is not entirely certain, but what is clear is that this message is a ‘memento mori’. It tells us that death may be difficult to contemplate, but that it is also good to do so: if you dwell on your mortality during your lifetime, you can already prepare for your fate in the afterlife. In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the rebus – the playing with words and images – became increasingly popular. This involves not only replacing a written word with an image, but also plays on similarities in sound and associations in meaning. It also incorporates the interplay between different languages. So, we must try a little harder to understand this message, which must have made it an intellectual challenge as early as the 16th century.

Details
Inscriptions
tekst FRANCISCI TRAXIT AD SE PLURIMA ANNO DNI XV XXIJ FUERAM ANNORUM LIIII
tekst (achterzijde): EST
tekst (achterzijde): PENSER A
Dimensions
linkerluik, hoogte: 49.8 cm
linkerluik, breedte: 40 cm
rechterluik, hoogte: 49.9 cm
rechterluik, breedte: 40 cm
geheel, gewicht: 10 kg
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Inventory number
O.SJ0191.I
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Copyright
Musea Brugge is committed to making its data available as usable open data. Images of works of art which are not subject to copyright restrictions are therefore published under the Creative Commons Zero licence. These may be used freely.

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