Portrait of Erard de la Marck, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, c. 1528 - c. 1530 – (Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (Jan Mayo)) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (Jan Mayo)

Date: 1530

Size: 64 x 56 cm

Technique: Oil On Panel

It seems likely that the two panels discussed in this entry, the ‘Portrait of Erard de la Marck’ and the companion panel ‘The Holy Family’ (SK-C-1701) were painted by Jan Vermeyen for Margaret of Austria between 1528 and 1530. There is some debate as to whether they originally formed a diptych, with the portrait on the left. They would appear to be too large for a hinged diptych, but it is certainly conceivable that they belonged together as separate panels. Cardinal Erard de la Marck (1472-1538), Prince-Bishop of Liège, is shown half-length. Over his red cassock he is wearing a dark red, fur-lined cloak with wide sleeves, and he has a red biretta on his head. Unlike the red cassock and red biretta, which are part of a cardinal’s official garb (although the usual sapphire ring is missing), the cloak is a secular garment that is mainly seen in the portraits of scholars. Two angels are holding up a green (now dark brown) curtain behind him, and the one on the right is gesturing to the right.8 Erard de la Marck was made Prince-Bishop of Liège in 1505, and since 1518 he had been an ally and financial backer of Emperor Charles V, and the trusted adviser of Regent Margaret of Austria. He became a cardinal in 1521. A cruel inquisitor, he was known not just as a sworn enemy of Protestantism but also as a generous patron of the arts.9 By building a bishop’s palace in Liège (1526-34) and awarding scores of monumental commissions (for more than 300 tapestries, among others), he was responsible for a flowering of Renaissance art in the city.10 The Holy Family is depicted with a brooding Joseph on the right and God the Father on a terrestrial globe with musician angels on the left. The Virgin Mary with the nude, standing, muscular Christ Child in close-up recalls Jan Gossart’s ‘Virgin and Child’ in Madrid.11 No direct model could be found for the two carnations in her hand, one red and one white. The thoughtful Joseph leaning forward behind the Virgin is based on a work by Raphael of c. 1518, also in Madrid, which also inspired Jan van Scorel. Vermeyen’s use of colour, his technique, the heavenly apparition of God the Father and the Child’s ‘contrapposto’ pose are all reminiscent of Scorel.12 ‘The Holy Family’ is Vermeyen’s only signed painting. As Torringa acutely observed of the signature: ‘Rather than signing with the usual “pinxit”, Vermeyen chose the imperfect form of the verb, “pingebat”. In so doing he was following the example of Apelles, who signed this way as an expression of his modesty because he was never fully satisfied with his work’.13 Jan van Scorel also use the word in his signature on the ‘Frangipani triptych’ of 1519 in Obervellach.14 The letters ‘IC’ (in ligature) could stand for Vermeyen’s initials: I(ohannes) C(ornelisz).15 We assume that the two panels formed a diptych from the very outset, as described in the inventory of the possessions of Margaret of Austria (1480-1530). Between 1524 and 1530, several items were added to that inventory of 1523/24, including two panels of the same size by Jan Vermeyen: ‘Deux Tableaux Receuz de Maistre Jehan, le paintre, semblables; en l’ung est Nostre Dame et l’autre Monseigneur de Liège’ (Two paintings received from Master Jan, the painter, similar; in one is Our Lady, in the other Monsignor of Liège). In another version of this inventory the diptych is described as ‘Ung tableau, paint d’ung cousté d’une Nostre-Dame et de l’autre du cardinal de Liège, fermant à deux fuilletz.’ (A painting, painted with an Our Lady on one side and on the other the cardinal of Liège, two leaves closing).16 The second description makes it less likely that the diptych described in the inventory was a stationary one. It emerges from a document of 1533 that Margaret of Austria commissioned two pairs of paintings with these subjects shortly before her death. In that year, Vermeyen wrote a letter to Margaret’s executors requesting overdue payment for the material costs of 19 paintings that he had delivered to her. They included ‘quatre grans tableaux a savoir: deux à la figure du cardinal de Liège et autres deux à l’ymage de Notre Dame [...], pour le bois, estoffes d’or, d’azur et autres’ (Four large paintings, namely two of the figure of the cardinal of Liège and the other two of the image of Our Lady [...], for the wood, gold, azurite and other materials). For this he charged ‘XX livres’.17 It is very conceivable that one of the pairs remained with Margaret as a diptych and was mentioned in her inventory, and that the other pair was given to Erard de la Marck, who may have ensured that it had a funerary function after his death. The two paintings discussed here only resurfaced in two different places in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century, and were published as works by Jan Vermeyen. The man was identified as the Prince-Bishop of Liège and cardinal, Erard de la Marck, on the basis of the inscription on his etched bust-length portrait by Jan Vermeyen (fig. a), which is a ../..