The exhibition this book accompanies celebrates the reun¬ion of two masterpieces of early Netherlandish painting commissioned by the Carthusian monk Jan Vos during his tenure as prior of the Charterhouse of Bruges in the 1440s: The Frick Collection’s Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos, commissioned from Jan van Eyck and completed by his workshop; and the Gemäldegalerie’s Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos, painted by Petrus Christus. These panels are examined with a selection of objects that place them for the first time in the rich Carthusian context for which they were created.
Drawing on recent technical examination and new archival research, this lavishly illustrated, scholarly volume explores the works’ creation, patronage, function, and reception, offering a focused look at devotional and artistic practices in Bruges during the mid-fifteenth century. This is a signifi¬cant contribution to our understanding of the role played by images in shaping monastic life and
