Bernard van Orley, court painter to Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary, also designed spectacular stained-glass windows in Brussels’ major church, Saints-Michel-et-Gudule. The large transept windows and those in the Blessed Sacrament chapel present portraits of Charles V, his wife Isabel of Portugal, his sisters Eleanor and Catherine of Austria, and Mary of Hungary, and their husbands, Francis I, John III of Portugal and Louis II—all staged within magnificent architecture in the antique manner. To these we may add the large window of the west façade, which shows the Last Judgement witnessed by the powerful Erard de la Marck. The monumental scale is unprecedented. Perhaps more than in his panel paintings, Van Orley demonstrates here an incredible capacity for innovation; the potentates of Europe interact while expressing their piety, their concern for the afterlife, and their devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
Sixteenth-century Netherlandish artists typically worked in a variety of media, producing not only panel paintings, but also designs for other major, but until recently less studied, art forms, notably stained glass and tapestry. Although art historians have generally viewed tapestry and glass design in isolation from each other, these media share many characteristics. Both involve complex collaboration, designed by one hand and executed by others. They can be monumental and expensive works of prestige. They are typically conceived in sets which require an artist’s story-telling skill in portraying unfolding narratives, and can be produced in multiple series of varying sizes. Focusing on the works of the Antwerp artists Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Dirk Vellert, this paper will address the profound intersections of tapestry and stained glass, and will compare these media with other arts including prints and panel paintings.
