Bruges: A Hospital, a Church and a Museum

I was in Belgium to see the new Van Eyck exhibition in Ghent so I thought I'd take a trip to Bruges to see some early Renaissance Flemish art. Bruges is easy to get to from Brussels, with frequent trains and it takes just under an hour to get there. When I came out of the station I saw steeples in the distance and decided to head for them. Crossing the road outside the station the buildings quickly became older and I was suddenly in a medieval town with narrow cobbled streets and picturesque buildings. So on I walked.

My first visit was to the Sint-Janshospitaal and its great collection of works by Hans Memling. The Sisters of St John had been working on that site since the 1100s in a hospital that they turned into a museum for Memling in the mid-1800s. The museum is in the former chapel of the hospital and it's a lovely space for displaying works of art and other objects, not the biggest gallery but there's plenty of space and great lighting. Hans Memling is one of the later Northern Renaissance artists and he actually lived and died in St John's so it's a special place.

The first works are two triptych altarpieces in glass cases so you can see the wing paintings, one is a Virgin and Child and the other is a Deposition, so we see the start and end of Christ's life.

Turn right and you enter the chapel with the grand St Ursula Altarpiece, much larger than the previous altarpieces and sited in the space it was painted for. You can walk round the altarpiece to see the wing paintings and back of the work.

The central panel is gorgeous. We see the Virgin enthroned with the Child in her lap, the Virgin turning a page in a book while the Child holds the finger of (i assume) St Ursula. St John is standing nearby in his rough clothes beside the Virgin's sumptuous throne. It's noticeable that the Virgin is wrapped in red whereas she would be cloaked in blue in an Italian painting of the same time.

Also in the chapel is the lovely diptych with the portrait of the Virgin with Maarten van Nieuwenhove and a portrait of an unknown young lady. This young man must have been rich or important to have to his portrait painted like this.

Out in the main space is the gorgeous Shrine to St Ursula, a gorgeous casket shaped like a church with large paintings at either end and three smaller paintings along each side of the body of the church. The eight paintings tell the story of the life of St Ursula in glorious colour with incredibly tiny details. Her story isn'y terribly delightful given the subject matter and her martyrdom with the 11,000 virgins who followed her. What is wonderful is the detail in the paintings, small as they may be.

Just over the road from Sint-Janshospitaal is the Church of Our Lady, a lovely church which is free to visit but you need a ticket to go behind the altar and see the true secret of the church, a lovely Michelangelo statue, the only statue of his that left Italy during his lifetime. Just before heading to Belgium I'd watched the film 'Monuments Men' and this Virgin and Child statue plays a big part in the film, with a soldier sacrificing his life trying to save it during the Second World War. Tickets to see that part of the church are bought  from the booth to the left of the entrance.

It's a beautiful, serene statue set under a black conch shell in the middle of a rather ornate altarpiece. If you've got a Michelangelo statue you don't surround it by lesser works from other sculptors. You can't get very close to the statue and it's covered in a glass plate for protection.

After the Church of Our Lady I headed to the Groeningemuseum, the main museum in Bruges. It's having some building work done in advance of a major exhibition about Van Eyck in the spring so some of the building was closed but the important rooms, for me, were still open, and these included the early Flemish works. The first room holds only one painting, the treasure by Van Eyck of the 'Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele'.

The room is slightly darkened with the lights focused on this painting. The Canon kneels at the feet of the Madonna's throne, flanked by saints Domitian (whose church this was painted for) and George (the Canon's namesake). The Child presents his mother with a posy of flowers and cuddles a green parrot (I assume that represents something but I don't know what). The Canon has just stopped reading and taken off his glasses at the moment this scene is painted. Joris commissioned this painting from Van Eyck on his return to Bruges after a spell in Rome and here he is, immortalised forever by the master. I wonder if he had any idea his image would attract attention nearly 600 years later? 

The painting rewards close inspection and is full of astonishing details, from the Canon's spectacles and the open book in his hand to the sheen on St George's armour and his marvellous helmet. You just know that the fabric at the back of the throne and the carpet would have been in the latest fashionable designs at the time and the clothes of St Domitian would have been of the finest embroidery. It's a gorgeous painting

As you walk on through the museum you come across some marvellous works by early Flemish painters, such as the 'Triptych of the Lamentation' by the Master of the Legend of St Lucy and an altarpiece by the Master of the Legend of St Ursula. It's always a bit sad that we don't know the names of these great painters that were clearly thought highly of at the time since they got the commissions for paintings but their names weren't documented for one reason or another. There's always hope that a box of old parchment might be discovered in an attic somewhere that will include the invoice for a painting or a lost diary will turn up. 

There are paintings by a host of great painters including Hans Memling and Gerard David and by a certain Heironomous Bosch. There are two altarpieces by Bosch, a 'Last Judgement' and a 'Triptych of Job'. The 'Last Judgement' is, as you'd expect, full of the strange images Bosch is known for as well as the panoramic view with tiny figures doing odd things. 

One of the highlights of the museum that wasn't on show when I visited is the portrait of Margaret Van Eyck by her husband, Jan, since it's currently on loan to the great Van Eyck exhibition in Ghent. She will return in March to star in the Groeningemuseum's own celebration of Van Eyck. I know that because she told me so when I went into the museum. 

So there you are, three great places to visit when you go to Bruge and there'll be so much more when the Groeningemuseum fully re-opens. There's a lot of art to see in Bruges and a lot of streets to wander round and marvel at the wonderful architecture around you. I hope to return one day.