mediumaevum:Young Man Holding a BookMaster of the View of Sainte Gudule(Netherlandish, active ca. 14
mediumaevum:Young Man Holding a BookMaster of the View of Sainte Gudule(Netherlandish, active ca. 1485)The heart-shaped book this sitter holds is probably a prayer book; he is depicted before a view of the church of Sainte Gudule in Brussels, where a mass is performed by a priest in the background. The man’s identity is unknown, but he may have been a member of a confraternity or guild with a particular devotion to Saint Augustine, whose symbolic attribute was a heart surmounted by a flame. It is possible this formed the right wing of a devotional diptych; as such, the shape of the book would echo the open form of two joined, arch-shaped panels. -- source link
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