Lamentation

Only a few works by Jacques Bellange, founder of the Lotharingian school of painting, have survived, as most of his works were destroyed during religious wars in France at the end of the 16th century. The cold, gloomy colour scheme is enlivened by blue touches in Christ's shroud and contrasts with the warm yellow flame of the candle, which gives the painting the note of tragedy and disturbance so characteristic of the artist's late works. The figure to the right is probably the donor for whom the work was painted. In showing the individual appearance of the donor, Bellange revealed his skill as a portraitist. The combination of a religious them with a rather more secular portrait indicates one of the characteristic points in French art of the late 16th and early 17th century.