The Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Arras is closed to the public due to major renovations of the Abbey of Saint-Vaast. The museum is scheduled to reopen in 2030. Please consult the museum’s website for updates.
Information
The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Arras, created in 1795 with works confiscated under the French Revolution, has been housed in the former Abbey of Saint Vaast in Arras since 1825.
Seventeenth-century painting is richly represented, in particular that of the Flemish school, with outstanding works such as The Stigmatization of Saint Francis of Assisi by Peter Paul Rubens, two large canvases by Jacob Jordaens, and a Repentant Saint Peter by Gerard Seghers.
On the Dutch side, Suzanne and the Elders by Joachim Wtewael, a master of Utrecht Mannerism, can be admired at the museum, as can a work by his son, Peter Wtewael. There is also a Portrait of a Woman by Nicolaes Maes, Abraham Receiving the Three Angels by Barent Fabritius, and a Balthasar van der Ast still life, a genre of which the museum holds a number of other noteworthy examples.
One of the museum’s most iconic paintings is the Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Bruegel (I), painted in 1566 and inspired by the Gospel according to Saint Luke. With its richness of detail and depth of perspective, this work demonstrates Bruegel’s mastery in transposing biblical scenes into an everyday context.
Text by CODART (March 2025)
Collection catalogues
Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Arras
Notter, Annick, Guillaume Ambroise
Arras 1998