Conrat Meit - Centre des monuments nationaux

Conrat Meit :
sCulpteur de Cour de Marguerite d’autriChe
à Malines et à Brou
Jens Ludwig Burk
conservateur adjoint au Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (Allemagne)
Résumé
Le premier témoignage dont on dispose sur Conrat Meit (1470/1485 ?–1550/1551), né à
Worms en Allemagne, se trouve à la cour de Saxe du prince Electeur Frédéric III le Sage,
à Wittenberg avant 1510. On retrouve sa trace en 1512/1514, en tant que sculpteur à la cour
de l’archiduchesse Marguerite d’Autriche à Malines, où il demeure attaché à son service
jusqu’à la mort de cette dernière en 1530. Environ dix ans après la mort de son dernier mari,
le duc Philibert de Savoie, mort en 1504 à l’âge de 24 ans, Marguerite passa à Meit plusieurs
commandes d’une série de portraits variés, de différentes tailles et dans différents matériaux,
d’elle-même et de son défunt mari. Entre 1526 et 1531 Meit et son atelier exécutent pour sa
« patronne » les effigies grandeur nature, putti et figures animalières des monuments funéraires
de son église Saint-Nicolas-de-Tolentino à Brou. Dans cet article, nous passons en revue et
comparons les fonctions, la réception et la mise en place de ces divers types de portraits de
Meit dans la résidence de Malines et dans l’église de Brou. En particulier, les bustes miniatures
de Marguerite et de son époux – uniques parmi les portraits sculptés en Europe du Nord au
début de la Renaissance – méritent une analyse attentive : il s’agit du type portrait intime,
« pourtraiture », qui contraste avec la « representacion » plus officielle que sont les effigies de
Brou ou les bustes grandeur nature de la bibliothèque de Malines, aujourd’hui perdus mais
bien documentés.

Conrat Meit:
Margaret of austria´s Court sCulptor
in Malines and Brou
by Jens Ludwig Burk
Assistant Curator at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (Germany)
AbstRAct
Conrat Meit (1470/1485?–1550/1551), who was born in Worms (Germany), is first recorded
at the Saxon court of Prince Elector Frederick III the Wise in Wittenberg before 1510.
As Archduchess Margaret of Austria’s official court sculptor he is documented in Malines
from 1512/1514, where he remained attached to her service until her death in 1530. About
a decade after the death of her last husband Duke Philibert of Savoy, who died in 1504
at the age of 24, Margaret began commissioning from Conrat Meit various types of portraits
of herself and her late husband in different sizes and materials. From 1526 to 1531 Meit and
his workshop executed for his patron the life-size effigies, adorning putti and animals for
the sepulchral monuments of her burial church St. Nicholas of Tolentino in Brou near Bourgen-Bresse.
This paper focuses on the different functions, reception and display of all these
portraits. Conrat Meit´s miniature busts of Margaret and her last husband are unique among
Northern European portrait sculpture of the Early Renaissance. For that very reason they
deserve to be envisioned in their intimate status as “pourtraiture”, in contrast to the more official
“representacions” of the tomb effigies in Brou as well as the lost, but documented life size
marble busts for the library of her residence in Malines.

Conrat Meit:
Margaret of austria´s Court sCulptor
in Malines and Brou
Jens Ludwig Burk
Assistant Curator at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (Germany)
the autonomous secular portrait bust emerged in Northern Europe only
around 1500. One of the earliest and most prolific exponents of portrait
sculpture of the early Northern Renaissance was conrat meit, whose extant and
documented portraits are of a variety of different types. In addition to tomb
sculptures, i.e. effigies with the portraits of the deceased meit executed portrait
busts in different formats as well as a small number of portrait tondi. compared
to the majority of portrait sculptures of the Northern Renaissance, his miniature
busts possess neither a distinctive official character nor a public one when
judged by their dimensions alone. moreover, the small group of meit’s miniature
busts is unique. this begs an explanation about their initial function, location
and meaning.
this paper intends to give some biographical information about the court sculptor
conrat meit, and the portrayed, Archduchess margaret of Austria, who was “gouvernante
et régente” [“governess and regent”] of the Habsburg Netherlands, and
Duke Philibert II of savoy, her husband. margaret of Austria commissioned different
portraits of herself and her last husband from her court sculptor about a decade
after the death of Philibert, who died in 1504 at the age of 24, three years after
their marriage. the paper will present meit’s portraits of margaret and Philibert,
both the extant and lost ones, which were of various types, sizes and materials.
Last but not least this survey will look closer at their different functions, reception
and display.
cONRAt mEIt
Meit was born at Worms 1 , Germany, between 1470 and 1485; nothing is known about his
artistic background, training or early commissions. The earliest documents referring to him
concern an important project for one of the major German patrons of that period, Duke Frederick
III the Wise, Elector of Saxony. In Lucas Cranach the Elder’s workshop at Wittenberg,
Meit produced a double-sided image of The Madonna and Forty Angels for the castle church
(1505–1510). This complex wooden image – a “Doppelmadonna” – was placed on a column
in the church, probably facing Tilman Riemenschneider’s monumental crucifix that was hanging
from the choir vault; it may have been lost during the Reformation. While Meit´s original
formation as a sculptor remains a field of speculation his specific profile as a Renaissance
artist must have profited in Wittenberg from an atmosphere where key elements of German
Renaissance art were available at the time he worked in the workshop of Cranach the Elder. In
particular, Meit’s interest in producing nude figures (ill. 1) may have been aroused by Dürer’s
paradigmatic example, whom he is likely to have met at Wittenberg, as much as by Cranach
the Elder, whose earliest nudes date from that precise period.
This article represents a revised and updated version of a lecture that was held at the conference « Brou, un monument européen
à l’aube de la Renaissance », at the Monastère royal de Brou in October 2006. The article also appears in a printed version in the
proceedings of the conference held at the Wallace Collection, London, in July 2004, Equilibris Publishing, Haren (NL), 2009.
1. The biographical summary follows Burk, Jens Ludwig, « Conrat Meit - Bildhauer der Renaissance. ´desgleichen ich kein
gesehen… », Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), Conrat Meit – Bildhauer der Renaissance (exh. cat.), Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
December 2006 – March 2007, Munich, Hirmer Verlag, p. 15-65.
Selected bibliography at the end of the article.

1
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
1. Adam and Eve, Conrat Meit, ca. 1510. Boxwood, details accentuated with colour;
H. 36 cm (Adam); H. 33,7 cm (Eve); Schloßmuseum Friedenstein, Gotha;
inv. no. P 21 and P 22. Photo: Lutz Ebhardt.
2. Jakob Fugger the Rich, Conrat Meit, ca. 1510–15. Pearwood, polychromed,
H. 17,3 cm; inscription (on the base): I. FVGER; Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
Munich; inv. no. L 2006/208.
The miniature bust of Jacob Fugger the Rich (ill. 2), which resurfaced
in 2006, probably dates from the period immediately after Meit’s stay
at Wittenberg and before his move to the Netherlands2 . The naturalistic
features of Jacob Fugger’s bust evoke contemporary portraits
by Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder, while the design and
style of the bust remind one of Meit’s later portraits produced in the
Netherlands.
In 1512/14, at Malines (The Habsburg, Netherlands), probably after first
working for two other patrons, Meit entered the service of Margaret
of Austria to become her court sculptor, which he remained until her
2. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), Conrat Meit – Bildhauer der Renaissance (exh. cat.), Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, December 2006 –
March 2007, Munich, Hirmer Verlag, p. 110-113, cat. 12 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
2

3
3. Deer´s Head with
antlers and crucifix, 1518.
Head: wood; original antlers:
gilded; crucifix: wood, metal,
partly gilded; H. 57,5 cm;
National Museum of Denmark,
Copenhagen; inv. no. 10987.
4. Madonna with Child,
Conrat Meit, 1531–34.
Marble, traces of polychromy;
H. 62 cm; Cathedral
of Sts. Michel and Gudula,
Brussels; inv. no. 75.103.
Institut royal du patrimoine
artistique, IRPA / KIK,
Bruxelles.
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
death in 1530. The Archduchess’s court accounts record various portraits as
well as wooden and gilt metal statuettes, decorations for her residence such
as a gilt cabinet in the form of a tower and a deer’s head for a chimney piece
(ill. 3); he also produced religious imagery, such as a large wooden Pietà, that
was polychromed by Margaret’s court painter Bernard van Orley. From 1526
until 1531 Meit and his workshop executed the tomb sculptures of the Archduchess,
her last husband Philibert and his mother, Margaret of Bourbon in
Brou: these works were to be located in Margaret of Austria’s funerary church
of St. Nicholas of Tolentino at Brou on the outskirts of Bourg-en-Bresse.
Margaret of Austria’s last commission was immediately followed by another
funerary project commissioned by Duchess Philiberte de Luxembourg. Together
with his assistants, Meit worked from 1531 to 1534 on twenty-five life size
tomb sculptures for the mausoleum of Philiberte’s son, Philibert de Chalon,
Prince of Orange, at Lons-le-Saunier. Although the monument was long supposed
to be fully lost, Meit’s marble Madonna and Child (ill. 4) now in Brussels
can be identified with the “image de Notre-Dame de Lorette” mentioned in
the contract for the monument at Lons.
In 1534 Meit became a member of the Antwerp guild of St. Luke. All of the
recorded works from that period – such as sixteen life-size statues for the
Norbertine abbey of Tongerloo, as well as unspecified works for the cathedral
of Antwerp – were lost during the iconoclastic revolts or during the French
Revolution. Meit died in Antwerp in 1550/51.
4

CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
mARgAREt Of AustRIA AND PHILIbERt Of sAvOy
Meit’s most important patron, Archduchess Margaret of Austria, was the daughter of Archduke
Maximilian (later Emperor Maximilian I) and Duchess Mary of Burgundy, born in Brussels
in 14803 . As a child, in 1483, she was initially promised to Charles VIII, king of France, who
was ten years older (reigned 1483–98), but the marriage was annulled in 1493. In 1497 she
was married to the crown prince of Spain, John of Aragon-Castille, who died in the same year;
finally, her marriage with Duke Philibert II of Savoy was arranged by her father in 1501. Philibert
was born in the same year as Margaret and became Duke in 1497. Shortly afterwards he lost
his first wife.
Philibert of Savoy and Margaret of Austria had known each other since their childhood. They
met at Amboise, as they had both been raised at the French court. From 1501 until the Duke’s
death in 1504 the couple led a princely life in their residences on the Savoyan territories. Later
descriptions of Margaret’s life mentioned this period as the happiest one. After her husband’s
death, Margaret resisted all further plans put forward by her father as well as her brother,
Duke Philip the Fair, to get married for a third time. When her brother died in 1506, the position
of governor-general of the Habsburg Netherlands became vacant. Negotiations with her
father Maximilian, led to her appointment as governess-general of the Netherlands in 1507
and subsequently as the regent of the country (“régente”) in 15094 . She built her residence,
the so called “Hof van Savoyen” in Malines, where she also took care of her nephew Charles,
the future Emperor, and his sisters.
Margaret of Austria ruled the Netherlands from 1507 until her nephew Charles came of age
in 1515, and again, as the “régente et gouvernante” from 1519 until her death in 1530. The
Archduchess, whose early life was overshadowed by misfortune and tragedy, was the first of a
series of female Habsburg rulers of the Netherlands. For the Emperor (her father, Maximilian I,
succeeded by her nephew Charles V in 1519) she successfully achieved an important political
role. Moreover, as a collector and patron of art, her wide-ranging interests in both older and
contemporary objects of the highest quality must be considered an important predecessor
of the “Kunstkammer” of the later 16th century5 .
mEIt’s PORtRAIts Of mARgAREt Of AustRIA
AND PHILIbERt Of sAvOy
The earliest mention of a portrait by Meit belonging to Margaret of Austria can be found in
the 1516 inventory of her library at Malines6 . It was a self-portrait. Besides a small wooden
horse by Meit the inventory mentions “ung visage de bois taillé par Conrard à sa semblance”.
Both sculptures are further described as painted: “Avec les painctures”. Meit’s polychromed
self-portrait was probably comparable to his extant small scale sculptures with colour highlighting.
Although lost, it witnesses the artist’s improving social status, especially considering
it was displayed in the Archduchess’s library. Meit’s self-portrait might even have been a gift to
advertise his proficiency before entering Margaret’s service.
Dagmar Eichberger’s detailed analysis of the rooms at the Malines residence, their public or
private nature and their various functions, is crucial to understanding the variety of portraits
of Margaret of Austria and Philibert of Savoy7 . For the Archduchess, Meit executed portraits
3. For Margaret of Austria see Eichberger, Dagmar (ed.), Women of Distinction. Margaret of York – Margaret of Austria (exh. cat.),
Lamot Mechelen, Davidsfonds Leuven, Brepols Publishers Turnhout, 2005.
4. Id., p. 26-27.
5. For the collections of Margaret of Austria see Eichberger, Dagmar, Leben mit Kunst- Wirken durch Kunst. Sammelwesen und
Hofkunst unter Margarete von Österreich, Regentin der Niederlande, Turnhout, Brepols, 2002.
6. Duverger 1934, p. 69-70.
7. Eichberger, Dagmar, op. cit.; Eichberger Dagmar and Beaven, Lisa, « Family Members and Political Allies. The Portrait Collection
of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen », The Art Bulletin, vol. 77, 1995, n o 2, p. 225-248.

CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
of herself and her late husband, both as a couple and separately. Margaret was represented
either as the young and beautiful Duchess of Savoy (together with Philibert of Savoy), or as
an older and pious widow. As such, she fashioned her image as “régente et gouvernante” of
the Netherlands. The different ways of presenting herself can be traced in all the media she
employed: portrait painting, illuminated manuscripts, tapestry and portrait sculpture.
Meit’s first documented portrait sculptures of Margaret of Austria and Philibert of Savoy were
a pair of life-size marble busts representing them as young ducal couple. The now lost busts
were recorded in 1517 in the library of her Malines residence8 . In 1518 Margaret commissioned
two wooden miniature busts of herself. The payment to Meit records two versions of
a “visaige a notre semblance” 9 , referring to her sculpted image as a faithful redendering of her
appearance at the time of the commission as matured woman and widow. Margaret kept
one of these two carved portraits in her “petit cabinet” 10 , a studiolo next to her bedchamber.
The portrait is probably similar to her miniature bust (ill. 5) in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
Munich. In her “petit cabinet” she also kept a wooden miniature bust of Philibert, first recorded
in 152311 . The second version of her miniature bust supposedly served as a personal gift.
Interestingly a second version of Margaret’s Munich bust was shown in the exhibition “Marguerite
d’Autriche” at Brou in 195812 . The portrait – now untraced – was lent from the collection of a
member of the French Rothschild family. Since two versions of Margaret of Austria’s portrait
bust are documented in 1518, the latter might be the second bust.
After signing the contract for the tomb sculptures in Brou and shortly before leaving Malines
in 1526, Meit delivered a painted wooden image of Philibert of Savoy that took him one year
to execute13 . Interestingly the wooden sculpture is not recorded in the post mortem inventory
of Margaret’s residence. Since the description of this image as “representacion” recalls the
terminology used in the contract for the recumbent figures of the tombs in Brou, this wooden
image might have been used as a model for one of Philibert’s effigies. For the tombs at Brou,
Margaret commissioned from Meit and his workshop two life size representations of herself,
two of Philibert of Savoy, one of her mother-in-law, Margaret of Bourbon, as well as accompanying
putti and guarding animals for each tomb.
Besides the tomb sculptures at Brou, which are almost perfectly preserved, and the two single
miniature busts in Munich and Berlin14 (ill. 6), a pair of miniature busts of the couple (ill. 7) has
survived (British Museum, London) 15 . Together with a pair of nude statuettes of Adam and Eve
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), the pair of portrait busts was part of the collection of
Emperor Rudolph II in Prague, listed in an inventory of 1607–11. In 1865 they were acquired
in Vienna by Baron Anselm von Rothschild, whose son Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed
them to the British Museum (“The Waddesdon Bequest”).
It is to be noted that none of the extant miniature busts can be identified with certainty in Margaret
of Austria’s inventories, even though in some cases the identification is highly probable.
It is also noteworthy that Conrat Meit entered the service of Margaret of Austria for his reputation
as a carver of likenesses. In 1512 she wrote to a cousin asking him to borrow his “good
German sculptor” 16 , who is traditionally identified as Meit. It remains unclear whether her wish
for a stone portrait of her husband should be connected with the funerary project at Brou
8. Duverger 1934, p. 71.
9. Id., p. 72.
10. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), Conrat Meit - Bildhauer der Renaissance (exh. cat.), Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, December 2006 –
March 2007, Munich, Hirmer Verlag, p. 96-98, cat. 8 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
11. Id., p. 100-103, cat. 9 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
12. Baudson, Françoise, Exposition organisée par la ville de Bourg-en-Bresse en homage à Marguerite d´Autriche, fondatrice de Brou
(1480-1530) (exh. cat.), Brou 1958, p. 20, cat. 13. See also Lowenthal, Constance, op. cit., p. 82.
13. Duverger 1934, p. 84-85.
14. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), op. cit., p. 100-103, cat. 9 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
15. Id., p. 104-107, cat. 10 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
16. Duverger 1934, p. 68.

7
5. Margaret of Austria as a widow, Conrat Meit, 1518.
Pearwood (?), eyes accentuated with colour;
H. 7,47 cm; inscription (on the base): MARGARITA
GuBERNATRIX BELGIAE; Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
Munich; inv. no. R 420.
5 6
7. Margaret of Austria and Philibert of Savoy, Conrat Meit, 1515–25.
Boxwood; H. 11,8 cm (Philibert); H. 9,2 cm (Margaret);
British Museum, London, The Waddesdon Bequest; inv. no. Wad. 261.
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
6. Philibert of Savoy, Conrat Meit before 1523/24.
Boxwood, traces of gilding, additions to beret;
H. 11,6 cm; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer
Kulturbesitz, Skulpturensammlung und Museum
für Byzantinische Kunst; inv. no. 818.
Photo: A. Voigt 2006.

CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
(that was then already under way for over six years), or with the earliest documented life-size
marble busts of the couple in her residence (the lost ones mentioned above). If the former
were the case, Margaret’s search for a new sculptor could be linked to the trouble she had
experienced with the second project for Brou: in the same year, 1512, she had fired the
French team of Jean Lemaire de Belges and Jean Perreal. Michel Colombe’s involvement had
also come to an end due on his refusal to move to Brou at his old age.
As said, Margaret’s wish to borrow the “good German sculptor” is traditionally connected
with the lost pair of marble busts in her library. Indeed, the Italian diplomat Antonio de’ Beatis
saw them while visiting Malines in 151717 . In his diary, he mentioned the impressive library, but
only singled out two individual objects, the busts in question. The library and its content was
shown to diplomats like Antonio de’ Beatis, to scholars like Erasmus of Rotterdam and to artists
like Albrecht Dürer. The marble busts depicted the young couple – the Duke was, according
to Beatis, “as beautiful as they say he was and Margaret as she was when younger” and
“con molto artificio facte et secondo la relatione naturalissime” 18 , probably as much referring
to their life-size format as to their life-like character.
The marble busts are listed in the two major inventories of Margaret’s residence, the first one
of 1523-24 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris19 , the other, began in 1524 and updated
1531 after her death (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) 20 . The marble busts are
mentioned after the long list of illuminated manuscripts and books and before other decorative
objects like furniture, small scale sculptures, painted portraits and genealogies. In both
inventories, the late Duke’s full armour was inserted between the entries of the two busts.
The Vienna inventory also describes a cabinet containing the armour which was installed on
an iron stand21 . It is not mentioned whether the busts were put on top of the cabinet or not.
Next to these two busts and the Duke’s armour, a group of painted portraits included two
other portraits of him.
The idealised representation of Philibert’s upper effigy at Brou (ill. 8), must be seen as one
of the most official representations of the late Duke. There we probably get a glimpse of his
armour, as it was shown in the library of the Malines residence.
Due to the prominent role of Philibert’s various portraits, the library appears not only as a
memorial to Margaret’s late husband, but also as a statement of Margaret as the Dowager
Duchess of Savoy. The pious widow’s personal feelings cannot be the only justification for
the variety of representations of Philibert in the library: while commemorating her husband,
the Dowager Duchess of Savoy was proclaiming her legal rights to the Savoyan territories that
she had been given as source of income.
The sculpted portraits of Margaret were carefully orchestrated representations of her different
political roles, as Dowager Duchess of Savoy and as governess of the Netherlands. This
becomes even clearer when comparing the library with another important room of her residence,
the “première chambre à chemynée” 22 . The “première chambre” was the main assembly
room of the court and served as the main portrait gallery. It contained the largest number
17. Id., p. 71.
18. Pastor, Ludwig, « Die Reise des Kardinals Luigi d´Aragona durch Deutschland, die Niederlande, Frankreich und Oberitalien,
1517-1518, beschrieben von Antonio de Beatis », Erläuterungen u. Ergänzungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen Volkes,
vol. 4, book 4, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1905, p. 115.
19. Michelant, Henri, « Inventaire des vaiselles, joyeaux, tapisseries, peintures, manuscrits, etc. de Marguerite d´Autriche, régente
et gouvernante des Pays-Bas, dressé en son palais de Malines, le 9 juillet 1523 », Compte rendu des séances de la Commission royale
d´histoire. Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, 3 e série, vol. 12, 1871, p. 5-78, 83-136.
20. Zimerman, Heinrich (ed,), « Urkunden und Regesten aus dem K. u. K. Haus-, Hof- und Staats-Archiv in Wien (Nachträge): Inventoire
des parties de meubles estans es cabinetz de Madame en sa ville de Malines, estans a la garde et charge de Estienne Luillier, varletde-chambre
de ma dite dame, lequel en doit respondre a Richard Contault, garde-joyault de ma dite dame, et le dit Contauld en tenir
compte a icelle ma dite dame, (20. April 1524)“, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses,
vol. 3, 1885, p. XCIII-CXXIII.
21. Zimerman, Heinrich, op. cit., p. CXVIII.
22. Eichberger, Dagmar (2002), op. cit., p. 94-96.

8. “Representacion auf vif” of Philibert of Savoy,
Conrat Meit and workshop,1528–31.
Carrara-marble; monastère royal de Brou. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges.
8
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
of portraits and very few other decorative objects. As a genealogical gallery of the Habsburg
Emperor, the portraits displayed in the “première chambre” included portraits of the Emperor,
his Burgundian ancestors on the side of Margaret’s mother Mary of Burgundy, the living and
dead members of the widespread Imperial Habsburg family and the portraits of rulers of their
major allies like the English. Notably, Margaret’s own painted portrait was not included in this
room. In contrast to the “première chambre”, the smaller number of portraits in the library
included those excluded from the “première chambre” – in particular, the portrait of the French
King Louis XII, under whom Philibert had served in the siege of Milan in 1498.
The emphasis on Margaret’s different positions – as Dowager Duchess of Savoy and as governess
of the Netherlands – however does not answer the question why the medium of sculpture
was chosen for these particular portraits in the library and the “petit cabinet”. Some
contemporary fashionable Italian examples – such as a terracotta bust of Mary Tudor belonging
to Margaret, probably by Pietro Torrigiani – as well as some extant examples of ancient
portrait busts in the Netherlands might provide a background for the new phenomenon of
these portrait busts in the residence of Margaret of Austria23 .
The lost marble busts have been connected with the two miniature busts in the British Museum,
on the assumption that these had been used as models 24 . Later Habsburg inventories
containing some of Margaret’s possessions still record the marble busts. The inventories of
Mary of Hungary’s castle at Turnhout from 1556 and 1558/59 do not offer new information
about these busts, however the 1569 inventory of the Coudenberg palace in Brussels
23. Id., p. 317; Burk, Jens Ludwig, « Conrat Meit – Bildhauer der Renaissance. “desgleichen ich kein gesehen…” », in: Eikelmann,
Renate (ed.), op. cit., p. 29-35.
24. Lowenthal, Constance (1976), op. cit., p. 88.

9
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
does. It was written by the treasurer of King Philip II of Spain, who thereby becomes the last
documented owner of the busts 25 . In 1560 Margaret of Parma had ordered the marble busts
to be transported to Brussels. If they were kept later in the Brussels palace, the marble busts
were probably destroyed when the palace burnt down in 1731.
9. Head of a Man
all´antica (possibly Cicero),
Conrat Meit, ca. 1515.
Alabaster; H. 33 cm;
J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles;
inv. no. 96.SA.2.
From this inventory we learn that the two marble busts actually
showed the portrayed from the middle of the stomach upwards,
and not like the miniature busts, which are cut directly under the
breasts. Compared to Meit’s miniature busts, these marble busts
were thus of a different design, either with the arms of the depicted
integrated or cut at an angle.
This shows that Meit was not dependent on the usual Quattrocento
Italian formal solutions. If the cutting off point of his alabaster
Head of a Man (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) 26 (ill. 9) is
original, then another type of portrait can be added to his oeuvre.
This type possibly had its source in an antique sculpture or the
depiction of one that Conrat Meit must have known when creating
the Head of a Man, whose identification as the Roman orator and
philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero has been suggested because
of the wart at the angle of the eye.
For the interpretation of the so-called Head of a Man, one must
remember that Meit could already draw after authentic antique
portrait sculptures in the Netherlands as soon as he arrived there.
From his trip to Rome in 1508/09, Duke Philip of Burgundy had
brought back two antique heads of the Roman Emperors Julius
Caesar and Hadrian, which were presented to him by Pope
Julius II. After Philip of Burgundy’s death, the two marble heads
can probably be identified with the two heads in the possession
of Count Philip of Kleve, who had inherited part of Philip of Burgundy’s
collection27 .
The commission and display of portraits was carefully linked to
political issues and to questions of status, both at Margaret’s
Malines residence and at her funerary church at Brou. When Meit
signed the contract for the Brou tomb sculptures on 14 April
1526, the tomb structures in a flamboyant late gothic style had
already been finished by the Flemish workshop of the architect, Loys van Boghem, but not
yet installed. For the three single tomb structures in the choir of the church of St. Nicholas
of Tolentino (ill. 10), Meit and his workshop (including his brother Thomas), executed five
life-size effigies: two of Margaret (ill. 11) and two of her late husband Philibert (ill. 12), both
depicted as alive on the upper and dead on the lower levels of their tombs; and an effigy of
her mother-in-law, Margaret of Bourbon (ill. 13), depicted as alive, with guarding animals at
the feet of the upper figures and sixteen putti.
Four years after the first stone of the (for Margaret) life-long project at Brou was laid, in her will
dated 1509 Margaret decided to be buried next to her last husband and his mother. Only two
years after being appointed to the office of governess-general of the Netherlands, Margaret
made it clear that she would never marry again. With another marriage she would logically
have been buried next to her subsequent husband, she thus rendered her building project
both definitive and meaningful by refusing a further marriage.
25. Michelant, Henri, op. cit., vol. 13, 1872, p. 366.
26. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), op. cit., p. 114-117, cat. 13 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
27. Ibid.

10
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
10. View into the choir of the church of Brou with the three tombs of Margaret of Austria,
Philibert of Savoy and Margaret of Bourbon; monastère royal de Brou. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges

11
12
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
11. Tomb of Margaret of Austria, upper and lower effigy and putti by Conrat Meit and Workshop, 1526–31.
upper effigy and putti: Carrara-marble; lower effigy: alabaster; monastère royal de Brou.
12. Tomb of Philibert of Savoy with the historic placement of the putti facing the recumbent figure,
upper and lower effigy and putti by Conrat Meit and workshop, 1526–31.
upper effigy and putti: Carrara-marble; lower effigy: alabaster; monastère royal de Brou.

CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
13. Tomb of Margaret of Bourbon, effigy and putti by Conrat Meit and workshop, 1526–28.
Effigy and two putti: alabaster; two putti: marble (?); monastère royal de Brou.
13
Margaret’s engagement to build a funerary church on the territories of her last husband had
to be brought together with the representation of the Archduchess herself as a long-reigning
governess-general of the Netherlands and as a member of the Habsburg family. In this regard,
one should remember the crowning (now lost) of the church tower in the shape of an Imperial
crown. Long before Meit signed the contract for Brou, etiquette considerations had prompted
the decision to have single monuments erected to each of the three individuals buried there 28 .
28. Panofsky, Erwin, Grabplastik. 4 Vorlesungen über ihren Bedeutungswandel von Alt-Ägypten bis Bernini, Köln, 1964, p. 86.

14
15
16
29. Troescher 1927, p. 63, n. 68.
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
From this contract, we learn that the space
occupied by Margaret of Bourbon’s tomb was
considered of lesser importance, being in a
remote location, reason for which her effigy
did not need to be made of the more expensive
marble, imported from Italy. Instead, the
contract stipulates that it was to be made
of alabaster (ill. 14), “lesquelles pièces il fera
d’albastre à cause que ladite sepulture est en
lieu remot” 29 . Also the lower effigies of Margaret
of Austria and Philibert of Savoy are made
of alabaster, while the upper ones are made
of white marble imported from Italy. Although
Philibert’s tomb was placed in the center to
respect his status as the former reigning Duke,
Margaret of Austria’s tomb surpasses the two
others by its size, the spectacular richness of
its flamboyant architecture and its design as an
open structure that connects this tomb monument
not only with the main altarpiece (that
never reached its intended destination) but
also with the altar of The Seven Joys of the Virgin.
Last but not least, when seen entering the
choir from the roodloft, her tomb monument
functions as a visual frame for the stained glass
window with The Coronation of the Virgin.
The locations within the choir and the architectural
structures of the funerary monuments
visually translated the gradations in status of
the buried. Moreover the upper effigies had
to represent the Duke and the Archduchess
according to their age and their status at the
time of their death. Meit’s upper effigies show
Margaret (ill. 15) and Philibert (ill. 16) lying
in state and with their insignia: he with the
ducal crown and the collar of the Savoyan
Order of the Annunciades, she with the archducal
crown-like hat of the Habsburg family.
14. Effigy of Margaret of Bourbon,
Conrat Meit and workshop, 1526–28.
Alabaster; monastère royal de Brou.
15. upper effigy of Margaret of Austria,
Conrat Meit and workshop,1528–31.
Carrara-marble; monastère royal de Brou.
16. upper effigy of Philibert of Savoy,
Conrat Meit and workshop,1528–31.
Carrara-marble; monastère royal de Brou.

19
17 18
17. upper effigy of Margaret of Austria,
detail profile of head, Conrat Meit, 1528–31.
Carrara-marble; monastère royal de Brou.
Archive Author.
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
19. Jeton with portrait of Margaret of Austria with the archducal hat, South-Netherlandish, 1519.
Bronze, diameter: 2,95 cm; inscription (on the obverse): MARG.CESARV AuSTRIE.VNICA.FILIA.ET.AMITA.+;
Stedelijke, Musea Mechelen, Hof van Busleyden; inv. no. N/242.
From the accounts of Margaret’s funeral ceremonies we learn
that a similar “chapeau archiducal” was specially made for this
occasion 30 . Hence we might assume that such a hat did not
exist in reality. In this respect, Margaret’s “representacion
au vif” (ill. 17) combines two kinds of portrait qualities: the
naturalistic ones of the miniature bust of the Archduchess
as a widow that Meit took with him to Brou as a model
(a “patron” 31 ) (ill. 18); and the symbolic display of insignia
that were probably rarely shown. Apart from Margaret’s
upper effigy only a medal with her likeness, of 1519
(ill. 19), shows a comparable image with the archducal
hat. In 1528, while working at Brou, Conrat Meit also executed
a terracotta medallion with a portrait of Margaret 32
(ill. 20: see Dagmar Eichberger’s article p. 55, ill. 10) which
shows her as a widow directly comparable to the Munich
miniature bust. It is interesting to note that the inscription on the
medallion repeats the unusual inscription on the 1519 medal.
30. Michelant, M., op. cit., p. 135.
31. Zimerman, Heinrich, op. cit., p. CII, n. 88.
32. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), op. cit., p. 108-109, cat. 11 (Jens Ludwig Burk).
18. Margaret of Austria as a widow, Conrat Meit, 1518.
Pearwood (?), eyes accentuated with colour; H. 7,47 cm;
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich; inv. no. R 420.

21
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
21. View from the tomb of Margaret of Austria into the direction of the tombs
of Philibert of Savoy and Margaret of Bourbon, with the communicating effigies on the three tombs;
monastère royal de Brou. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges.

22
23
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
22. „Representacion de la mort“ of Margaret of Austria,
detail, Conrat Meit and workshop, 1526–28. Alabaster;
monastère royal de Brou. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges.
The almost perfectly preserved ensemble at
Brou shows the three upper effigies in an animated
state with open eyes, turning towards
each other in prayer; this creates an intimate
communication that transcends the three single
architectural structures (ill. 21). The two
lower effigies of Margaret and Philibert, which
in the contract are called “representacions de
la mort”, depart from the tradition of depicting
the dead in a state of decay. Instead, Margaret
(ill. 22) and Philibert (ill. 23) are shown young
and idealised, almost as if they were to resurrect
at any moment. One of the most important
overall iconographical themes of the choir – The
Resurrection of the Dead – thus finds its unprecedented
visualisation in the conception of the
lower effigies of Margaret and Philibert 33 .
23. „Representacion de la mort“ of Philibert of Savoy, detail, Conrat Meit and workshop, 1526–28.
Alabaster; monastère royal de Brou. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges.
33. Burk, Jens Ludwig, « “À l’anticque” à Nantes et “à la moderne” à Brou: styles architecturaux et conception de la statuaire
funéraire au moment du passage du gothique tardif à la Renaissance », Wilson-Chevalier, Kathleen (ed.), Patronnesses et femmes
mécènes en France au 16 e siècle – d’Anne de France à Catherine de Médicis, Paris, 2007, p. 248-250.

24
24. Photograph with the portrait bust
of Philibert of Savoy. End of 19 th century.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin- Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Skulptuensammlung
und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst.
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
Returning to the miniature busts of Philibert and Margaret, it is interesting to note the terminology
used in the contemporary documents about Meit’s portraits for Margaret. In these the
term “representacion” is used in the inventories describing the marble busts in her residence
and in the contract with Meit for the five alabaster and marble effigies at Brou, whereas the
miniature busts are mostly called “pourtraiture” 34 , and in two cases are called “visaige” 35 . The
different terminology seems to refer to the different status of the sculpted portraits. By looking
closer at Meit´s single miniature busts of Margaret of Austria in Munich and Philibert of Savoy
in Berlin and by comparing these portraits with the information we have about the room where
the Archduchess kept these two single miniature busts or versions of them, an answer to this
question should be proposed.
On Philibert’s Berlin bust, remains of gilding on the tassels of the cap, of which parts were
broken off and replaced, are the only polychromy left. The life-like appearance of the image
with the slightly opened mouth might originally have been even stronger with his eyes painted.
An old photograph in the Skulpturensammlung, Berlin (ill. 24), shows the miniature bust with
painted eyes. Since the painted eyes are never mentioned, neither in the late 17th-century inventories (when the bust entered the Brandenburg-Prussian Kunstkammer in Berlin), nor in
a detailed description of the early 19th century, the photograph remains problematic. It cannot
be ruled out that the photograph does not show the sculpture itself but a painted plaster cast
after the miniature bust in the late 19th century. Since colour accents can still be observed on
the eyes of the Munich bust of Margaret, there are good reasons to believe that the Berlin bust
also had some polychromy in order to heighten the life-like effect of the portrait.
34. Zimerman, Heinrich, op. cit., p. CII and CV.
35. Duverger 1934, p. 69-70 and 71.
25
25. Philibert of Savoy, Conrat Meit, before 1523.
Boxwood, traces of gilding, additions to beret; H. 11,6 cm;
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz,
Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst;
inv. no. 818. Photo: A. Voigt 2006.

27
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
Not only the Berlin miniature bust of Philibert of Savoy
(ill. 25) does depart from the representation of any
insignia or symbols of power comparable to his upper
representation in Brou. Also Margaret´s does: while still
wearing a hermine trimmed robe in the small portrait
panels by her court-painter Bernard van Orley (ill. 26)
that were distributed in quite a number as high ranking
presents, Margaret of Austria in her miniature bust
(ill. 27) is exclusively shown with her widow´s weed
and the typical plastron over her chest36 .
Philibert’s bust was not displayed in any of the more
official rooms of the Malines residence, but on one
of the shelves of Margaret’s “petit cabinet”, besides
the miniature bust of herself as a widow. Next to her
bedroom, this cabinet was furnished with a table and
a chair. The inventories however record a variety of
objects on the shelves in this room: painted portraits,
religious imagery, small scale statuettes, different
stones, medals, mirrors and writing materials.
unlike many of Margaret’s painted portraits, only two
miniature busts of the widow are documented as being
paid to Meit, at the beginning of 1518. The date of the
payment predates the portraits by Bernard van Orley.
While one of her miniature busts was kept in her little
cabinet, the other one must have been a personal gift
to an important relation. One of her miniature busts
can be found in the inventory
taken after the death
of King Philip II of Spain
in 1602, “un retrato de madama Margarita, de madera, del pecho
arriba, en una caxuela cubierta de cuero negro, forrada en rasso
negro; con una aldavilla de plata. Tasado en tres ducados“ 37 26
.
Whether this bust was the one from Margaret’s “petit cabinet” or
the recorded second version given away as a gift is not known.
The same can be said of Meit’s bust of Philibert: the production of
replicas by Meit cannot be excluded.
26. Margaret of Austria as a widow, workshop of Bernard van Orley, after 1518.
Oil on wood; H. 37 cm × W. 27 cm; monastère royal de Brou; inv. no. 975, 16 AB.
Photo: Hugo Maertens, Bruges.
27. Margaret of Austria as a widow, Conrat Meit, 1518.
Pearwood (?), eyes accentuated with colour; H. 7,47 cm,
inscription (on the base): MARGARITA GuBERNATRIX BELGIAE;
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich; inv. no. R 420.
36. The hermine is shown in the Brussels copy of Margaret’s portrait.
37. Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier, Inventarios reales de bienes muebles que pertenecieron a Felipe II, 2 vols., (Archivo documental
español, publicado por la Real Academia de la Historia, vol. 10), Madrid 1956-1959, vol. 1, p. 191.

CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
After Margaret’s death, the portrayed as well as the artist had eventually been forgotten,
as the busts bear no original inscriptions. Meit’s miniature busts were then cherished as
mere collector’s items. In one of the Berlin Kunstkammer inventories of the 17 th century,
Philibert’s miniature bust was for instance recorded as carved by Albrecht Dürer and depicting
an anonymous sitter 38 .
To Margaret, however, the sitter and the artist were of course known. As an intimate object of
private memory the bust did not need any inscription to identify the portrayed. Its small size
further indicates that a single viewer could easily hold it in the hand to admire the physiognomy
as well as the carver’s skill in rendering the smallest detail and depicting the surface textures
of the facial features. Valued already as precious works of art in the inventory of Margaret’s
collector’s cabinet, these little busts of her and Philibert are singled out with the judgement
“bien fète” (“well done”) 39 .
Their size and character as well as the location of their display in the governess’s “petit cabinet”
connect to with a specific type of portrait painting in the 15th and 16th centuries that
Angelika Dülberg characterized as “Privatporträt” (“private portrait”) 40 . Meit’s miniature busts
of Margaret and Philibert can indeed be seen as very rare sculptural productions of Renaissance
“Privatporträts”.
Meit´s emulation of new Renaissance formula and the trendsetting context of Margaret of
Austria´s early modern court effected a production of a variety of sculptural portraits that
served both secular as well as sacral, private as well as public purposes of representation.
While Meit conceived Margaret of Austria´s portraits as widow and governess of the Netherlands
from life, he already had to rely on earlier representations for the production of her idealized
portrait as a young duchess. In the case of Philibert of Savoy – who was dead almost a
decade at the time Meit arrived in Malines – his portraits most likely demonstrate the importance
of idealization as their specific category of representation. The energetic individuality
and verisimilitude of Meit´s miniature portrait busts continue to fascinate us today.
38. Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), op. cit., p. 100, cat. 9 (Jens Ludwig Burk)
39. Eichberger, Dagmar, op. cit., p. 347-356.
40. Dülberg, Angelica, Privatporträts. Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1990.

sELEctED bIbLIOgRAPHy
CONRAT MEIT:
MARGARET OF AuSTRIA´S COuRT SCuLPTOR
IN MALINES AND BROu
Jens Ludwig Burk
Bode 1885: Wilhelm Bode, « Geschichte der deutschen Plastik », Geschichte der Deutschen
Kunst, vol. 2, Berlin, Grote, 1885, p. 214.
Bode 1901: Wilhelm Bode, « Die bemalte Thonbüste eines lachenden Kindes im Buckingham
Palace und Meister Konrad Meit », Jahrbuch der Königlich Preußischen Kunstsammlungen,
vol. 2, 1901, p. 4–16.
Vöge 1908: Wilhelm Vöge, « Konrad Meit und die Grabdenkmäler in Brou », Jahrbuch der
Preußischen Kunstsammlungen, vol. 39, 1908, p. 77–118.
Vöge 1915: Wilhelm Vöge, « Zu Konrad Meit », Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft, vol. 8,
1915, p. 37–45.
Troescher 1927: Georg Troescher, Conrat Meit von Worms. Ein rheinischer Bildhauer der
Renaissance, Freiburg, urban Verlag, 1927.
duVerger 1934: Jozef Duverger, Conrat Meijt, Brussels, Hayez, 1934.
LowenThaL 1981: Constance Lowenthal, Conrat Meit (Ph. D. thesis, New York 1976), university
Microfilms, Ann Arbor, uSA, 1981.
Burk 2004: Jens Ludwig Burk, « Conrat Meit 1470/1485 (?) - 1550/1551 », Encyclopedia
of Sculpture, vol. 2 (G-O), Antonia Boström, (ed.), New York/London, Dearborn, 2004,
p. 1036–1038.
Burk 2007: Jens Ludwig Burk, « Conrat Meit - Bildhauer der Renaissance. ´desgleichen ich kein
gesehen… », Eikelmann, Renate (ed.), Conrat Meit – Bildhauer der Renaissance (exh. cat.),
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, December 2006 – March 2007, Munich, Hirmer Verlag,
p. 15-65.
PHOtO cREDIts
Ill. 17: Author.
Ill. 6, 24, 25: Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst.
Ill. 8, 10, 21, 22, 23, 26: Bourg-en-Bresse, musée de Brou.
Ill. 4: Brussels, Fabric of St. Michael and St. Gudula, IRPA / KIK.
Ill. 3: Copenhagen, National Museum of Denmark. Photo: Jesper Weng.
Ill. 1: Gotha, Stiftung Schloß Friedenstein Gotha, Schloßmuseum.
Ill. 7: London, Trustees of the British Museum.
Ill. 9: Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum.
Ill. 19: Mechelen, Stedelijke Musea Mechelen, Hof van Busleyden.
Ill. 2, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 27: München, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum München.

Contents
by Marie-Anne Sarda
Chief Heritage Curator
by Anne Adrian
Curator of the Metz Métropole – La Cour d’Or
museums (Moselle, France)
by Chantal Delomier
INRAP archaeologist (National Institute
of Preventive Archaeology)
and Alain Kersuzan
PhD, History Professor at the University
Lyon‑II (Rhône, France)
by Dagmar Eichberger
Professor at the University
of Heidelberg (Germany)
by Sophie Guillot de Suduiraut
Head Curator of the Sculpture Department,
in charge of Northern European Mediaeval
Collections, Louvres Museum, Paris (France)
by Lars Hendrikman
Curator at the Bonnefanten Museum
in Maastricht (Netherlands)
by Ingrid van Woudenberg
PhD student in Mediaeval Art History
at the University of Nimègue (Netherlands)
by Pierre Anagnostopoulos
PhD student in Art History and Archaeology,
aspiring FNRS at the Free University
of Brussels (Belgium)
by Ethan Matt Kavaler
Professor at the University
of Toronto (Canada)
Between national monument and municipal museum,
issues arising from the restoration of the Royal Monastery of Brou
Résumé Abstract
Anne de Beaujeu and female patronage in France
in the Early Renaissance
Résumé Abstract
The Pont-d’Ain Castle, military fortress and count’s residence:
new elements provided by the texts and the archaeology of the built work
Résumé Abstract
Physical distance – spiritual proximity:
Margaret of Austria’s presence in Brou and in Malines
Résumé Abstract
The Altarpiece of the Seven Joys of the Virgin
in Margaret of Austria’s chapel in Brou:
the Brussels-style Gothic sculptures realized circa 1513/15-1522
Résumé Abstract
Bernard van Orley’s Passion Triptych for the Main Altar in the Church of Brou.
Commission and copies
Résumé Abstract
The Choir Stalls of Brou: the expression of sacred or profane love?
Résumé Abstract
The rood-screen of Brou
and the Brabantine XV th century architecture
Résumé Abstract
Geometers at Brou: Architecture and ornament in Spain,
Brabant and Western Europe around 1500
Résumé Abstract

y Jens Ludwig Burk
Assistant Curator at the Bayerisches
Nationalmuseum, Munich (Germany)
by Frédéric Elsig
Professor at the University
of Geneva (Switzerland)
by Laurence Ciavaldini Rivière
Professor in Mediaeval Art History
at the University of Grenoble (Isère, France)
by Yvette Vanden Bemden
Professor, Department of Art History
and Archaeology and Dean of the Faculty
of Philosophy and of Literature
at the University of Namur (Belgium)
by Dominique Tritenne
Geologist, President of the Association
des Amis du pays de la pierre
(Montalieu-Vercieu, Isère, France)
and of the National Conservatory of Stones
and Marbles, Montpellier (Hérault, France)
by Magali Briat-Philippe
Heritage Curator,
coordinator of the 2006 symposium,
museum of Brou (France)
Contents
Conrat Meit: Margaret of Austria’s court sculptor
in Malines and Brou
Résumé Abstract
The so-called’Grégoire Guérard’ and painting in Bresse
at the time of Margaret of Austria
Résumé Abstract
A new step in the study of the Book of Hours by Loys van Boghem,
church of Brou’s contractor. About the calendar
Résumé Abstract
The stained glass windows of Brou and Margaret of Austria’s patronage
in the field of stained glass windows
Résumé Abstract
The Marble of Carrara used in Brou
Résumé Abstract
The evolution of Brou’s statuary across the centuries
Résumé Abstract