Bernard van Orley was one of the pivotal figures of the Renaissance in the Low Countries. BOZAR and other prominent Belgian institutions are teaming up for the first major monographic exhibition devoted to this 16th century artist. Van Orley was a painter at the court of Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary and was inundated with commissions. As a young man he was already at the head of one of the biggest workshops of his time. He painted religious subjects and also designed wall tapestries and stained glass windows. In this exhibition special attention is paid to his portraits that place him at the centre of an important network of political advisors, influential clergymen and humanist thinkers. His work was in constant dialogue with that of contemporaries such as Albrecht Dürer and Raphael.

From all over the world works by Van Orley will travel back to the place where they were once created, to be reunited in one historic exhibition. A unique opportunity to (re)discover this Brussels master.

Information from the museum, 7 July 2018