Altarpiece panel from the Church of Saint-Denis in Liège

Lambert Lombard school, oil on wood, Liège, 16th century

This panel, which is painted on both sides, is attributed to Lambert Lombard and his workshop. It forms part of the shutters of a sculpted altarpiece that adorns the mansion of the Church of Saint-Denis in Liège. The iconography of the altarpiece evokes ‘The Passion of the Christ’ on the corpus (upper section) and the ‘Life of Saint-Denis’ on the predella (lower section). It was dismantled at the end of the 18th century and its panels were scattered, then partially bought back by the church. This panel, which is kept at the Château de Jehay, depicts ‘Noli me tangere’ on one side and ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ on the other. It should be noted that ‘Noli me tangere’ depicts a view of the city of Liège in the background, including the Church of Saint-Martin. 

Lambert Lombard is a Liège artist who was active during the reign of Prince-Bishop Érard de La Marck (1505–1538). A pioneer during the first Liège Renaissance, he benefited from the Prince-Bishop’s patronage and spent time in Rome, where he obtained antique works that were intended to decorate the Prince-Bishops’ palace.

In 1522, the Church of Saint-Denis commissioned an altarpiece to decorate its high altar. This work was to be monumental. The corpus, that is, the upper and central section, was sculpted during the 1520s and the 1530s by the Brussels-based workshop of Jan Borman. 

The work of several artists can be seen on the painted shutters. Although it has sometimes been contested, the role of Lambert Lombard and/or his workshop now seems indisputable to specialists.