PIETER COECKE VAN AELST (Aelst, 1502-Bruselas, 1550)

Virgin of the Rosary with angels with angels carrying the instruments of the Passion. Oil on panel. Size: 108 x 71 cm. Old labels on the back. This important work by Pieter Coecke van Aelst appears published in the monograph on the painter by Georges Marlier as the central panel of a triptych that, apparently, was separated in the 20s of the last century. The wings represented on one side the donor sailing in a boat and on the other the image of Santiago. The triptych must have been a votive offering thanks for a good trip or pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It is probably a representation of the Virgin of the Rosary, a popular iconography in Flemish-Germanic countries since the Middle Ages. In this complex composition the Virgin appears crowned with the Child in her arms over the crescent moon and surrounded by a mandorla of light with a border of flowers. Five adolescent angels carry shields and instruments of the Passion and fly over the sea and a beautiful landscape that is blurred in the distance. BIBLIOGRAPHY in which the work is studied: -MARLIER, Georges: "La Renaissance flamande. Pierre Coeck d'Alost", editions Robert Finck, Brussels, 1966, pp.180-182, fig.121. -Catalogued as Pieter Coecke van Aelst with the nº38820 of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD).