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The Tomb of Louis of Mâle and the Materiality of Brass in the Burgundian Netherlands

Douglas Brine

Published online:

04 Jun 2025

Abstract

Abstract

The brass and stone tomb of Louis of Mâle and Margaret of Brabant, Count and Countess of Flanders, and their daughter Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, formerly in St. Peter’s Church, Lille, is long destroyed but had a pivotal role in the history of Burgundian funerary sculpture. It was commissioned in 1453 by Louis’s great-grandson Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, although it was Duchess Isabella of Portugal who actually negotiated its contract with the Brussels brass founder Jacob van Gerines. Close examination of the circumstances of the tomb’s creation, notably Philip’s recent suppression of the Ghent revolt, illuminate the interrelation of materiality and identity underpinning the choice of brass for the monument, and the significance of brass for its audiences and its patrons.

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Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte Issues

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