Pair of portraits of of Jean Godin and Jeanne de Salembiens

General information
Original location Valenciennes or Cambrai? (where Jean Godin probably lived)
Current location Private collection
Artist Anonymous
Date Possibly a copy of a portrait made after 1503 (year of pilgrimage), but probably much younger (see remarks)
Material Oil on canvas
Dimensions 56 x 42 cm
Visual elements
Short description Pair of portraits of a man and a woman, displayed half-length, facing each other. The man is depicted on the left panel and carries the signs of the Jerusalem pilgrimage.
Depicted pilgrim
Personal information
Name Jean Godin
Social status / profession Knight of Jerusalem, vassal of the bishop of Cambrai, lord of Bavay and Aberchicourt
Coat of arms On the frame, top and top left: late gothic shield - a covered cup (een bokaal met deksel);
top right: late gothic shield - a chevron between three six-pointed stars, 2-1 (een keper, vergezeld van drie zespuntige sterren, 2-1);
bottom right: late gothic shield - three reversed five-pointed stars, 2-1 (drie omgekeerde vijftpuntige sterren, 2-1);
bottom left: late gothic shield - three lion's heads, 2-1 (drie leeuwenkoppen, 2-1)
Other known portraits Resurrection of Christ and view on Jerusalem with devotional portraits of Jean Godin and family (private collection)
Pilgrimages
Year of pilgrimage to Jerusalem 1465 (based on other portrait)
Attributes Jerusalem pilgrimage Palm; Embroidered Jerusalem cross on white cloak
Death
Year of death 1522
Location of grave Bavay
Additional information
General remarks These two portraits are part of an Ahnengalerie, a series of portraits of a family's ancestors, made at a far later date (possibly seventeenth or eighteenth century). It might have been a copy after an older original from Jacques's own time, but it is very likely that this portrait was invented. This is corroborated by the white cloak with a red Jerusalem cross worn by the sitter, which resembles the cloak worn by the members of the modern Order of the Holy Sepulchre (revived in 1847), but is not known from any other sixteenth-century depiction of a knight of the Holy Sepulchre. The same goes for the pair of portraits of Jacques Godin (Jean's son) and Catharine le Comte.
Literature
  • Maertens de Noordhout, J., Notice sur Jehan Godin, Chevalier de Jérusalem (Ghent 1937)
Descriptions of the RKD:
Jean Godin
Jeanne de Salembiens
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