One of his earliest signed works dates from 1512: the "
Triptych of the Carpenters and Masons Corporation of Brussels", also called the
Apostle Altar. The central panel is in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the side panels in the
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. It recounts the lives of two apostles Thomas and Matthew. It was originally commissioned for a chapel in the
Church of Our Lady of Victories at the Sablon in Brussels. In his early works he continued the traditions of
Jan van Eyck,
Rogier van der Weyden and their followers, but then he gradually began integrating the Italianate motifs of the Renaissance, representing figure types and the spatial relationship such as found in the works of
Raphael. Around 1514–1515, he painted
The Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist, part of an altarpiece for the
Benedictine abbey church of Marchiennes, likely commissioned by its abbot, Jacques Coëne. The panel painting depicts the
beheading of John the Baptist, with
Salome dancing at
the Feast of Herod in the background. It is now on display at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York City. In 1515 he was asked to take over the commission of a triptych for the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross in a chapel in the Sint-Walburga church in
Veurne. He finished and delivered it in 1522. The left panel is on display in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. The front shows Saint Helena meeting the pope in an architectural setting of Renaissance buildings and Italianate motifs. The back is a
grisaille painting of Christ falling under the Cross. The right panel is on display in the
Galleria Sabauda, Turin, showing
Charlemagne receiving the relics of the Passion. From 1515 on, he and his workshop received many orders for portraits, including from the royal family and from people connected to the court. In 1516 he painted seven portraits of
Charles, who had just become King of Spain, and portraits of his brother Ferdinand, the later King of Hungary, and his four sisters (destined for the King of Denmark). The 1516 painted copy of the
Shroud of Turin, commonly attributed to
Albrecht Dürer, is also sometimes attributed to Bernard van Orley. By 1517 he was recognized as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. On 23 May 1518 he was appointed as the official
court painter to the Regent of the Netherlands
Margaret of Austria, replacing
Jacopo de' Barbari. In this position, he became the head of an important workshop, making him one of the first entrepreneurial artists in Northern Europe. With this workshop he produced paintings and, especially after 1525, became a leading designer of tapestry cartoons and stained glass windows. He held this position until 1527 when he, his family and several other artists, fell into disgrace because of their Protestant sympathies. The family fled Brussels and settled in Antwerp. Five years later, he returned to Brussels when he was reinstated by the new Regent of the Netherlands,
Maria of Austria. After his death in 1541, he was succeeded as court painter by his pupil
Michael Coxcie. Among his most important paintings is the
Triptych of the Virtue of Patience (
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels), also called the Job altarpiece, commissioned in 1521 by Margaret of Austria to illustrate a poem she wrote about the virtue of patience. The interior panels represent the trials of
Job, while the outer panels recount the parable of
Lazarus and Dives (instead of the usual grisaille paintings of saints). This triptych is completely by the hand of Bernard van Orley. He must have been especially proud of his work as he signed it twice and added his coat of arms as well as his monogram BVO and the motto 'ELX SYNE TYT' ("each his own time"). This relates to his artistic opinion that an artist should be a man fully integrated in his time. The same museum houses another triptych by the same painter:
The Haneton Triptych. This triptych was commissioned by Philippe Haneton, first secretary in the Secret Counsel of Charles V. The middle panel depicts a poignant
pietà against an archaic golden background, painted in a very personal style with influences of the
Flemish Primitives and
Albrecht Dürer. Bernard van Orley was, together with
Jan Gossaert, among the first to introduce strong musculature in Flemish paintings. The left panel shows Philippe Haneton and his sons, and the right panel his wife and her daughters. The triptych
The Last Judgment (
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen), was commissioned by the almoners of the
Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp in 1525, is one of his works in its originality and mastery. The paintings in grisaille on the back were executed by
Peter de Kempeneer, who was, at that time, an apprentice in the van Orley's workshop. The
Altarpiece of Calvary in the
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Bruges, dates from 1534. It was commissioned by Margaret of Austria originally for the funeral monument in the church of Brou in
Bourg-en-Bresse in Burgundy. The side panels were finished much later by Marcus Gerards the Elder and brought to Bruges by
Margaret of Parma, regent of the Netherlands under king
Philip II of Spain. The central part represent the Calvary, the left panel the
Crown of Thorns, the Scourging of Christ and Christ carrying the Cross. The right panel depicts the
Pietà and the
Limbo of the Just. , Madrid His portraits were more subdued and thoughtful, such as his portraits of
Charles V and
Margaret of Austria. He usually represents his subjects in a seated static position, their expressionless faces without much psychological depth or feelings. His workshop produced several copies of these portraits, especially the portraits of Charles V and of Margaret of Austria. They were offered as gift to visitors or courtiers. He usually represented saints in a full-length portrait, such as his
Mary with Child and John the Baptist (Museo del
Prado, Madrid), with a background of an open colonnade, a
baldachin or a set of trees. This type of composition can be found in many 16th-century paintings. Bernard van Orley often signed his paintings, especially in his early period before 1521, with the coat of arms of the Seigneurs d'Orley:
argent two pallets
gules. It had been contended that these are the signature of his father Valentin. When
Albrecht Dürer visited the Netherlands in 1520 to be present at the coronation of the new emperor, Charles V, he called Bernard van Orley "the Raphael of the Netherlands". Dürer, who stayed as a guest in van Orley's house between 27 August and 2 September 1520, also drew a
portrait which some scholars identify as van Orley. Dürer had a profound influence on van Orley who in his later works tried to find a synthesis between Dürer and another Renaissance master, Raphael. Some important pupils of van Orley were
Michael Coxcie,
Pieter Coecke van Aelst and
Pieter de Kempeneer, who continued in the style of
Romanism. Other pupils, such as
Lancelot Blondeel and
Jan Vermeyen continued in the painter-designer tradition of their master. Together with
Jan Gossaert and
Quentin Matsys, Bernard van Orley is regarded as an important figure in 16th-century Flemish painting, incorporating elements of the Italian Renaissance into his work. His paintings are characterized by detailed execution and the use of vivid colors. ==Tapestries==