Episode from the Life of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy: The Execution of her Ministers, Hugonet and Humbercourt

Artist Gustave Wappers (Belgian, 1803–1874)

Date1830s

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 96.4 x 81.4 cm (37 15/16 x 32 1/16 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

Object number1965.391

Label TextWappers dramatizes a complex moment in Renaissance history. After Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, died in battle with the king of France, his daughter Mary, Duchess of Burgundy (1457–1482), assumed his title. Trapped between the ambitions of France and a local independence movement in the Netherlands, Mary granted permission to two of her father’s most powerful ministers to open covert diplomatic ties with France. The men were executed when their letters were discovered. Interest in Flemish historical subjects surged in the wake of Belgium’s declaration of independence in 1830. Stories of the Burgundian Renaissance were especially popular, although Wappers never seems to have converted this sketch to a finished painting.ProvenanceRoland, Browse & Delbanco, London England

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