Focus on this artwork and discuss the Wings.
The painting is still accompanied by its original wings. On the left wing are the donor with his six sons and Saint Jerome, his patron saint. The man’s wife is depicted on the right wing with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and seven daughters. At the tops of the wings are the donors’ coats of arms. The outer wings are painted in grisaille with Saint Christopher on the left and Saint Anthony Abbot on the right, with two more coats of arms. In its opened state, the three paintings do not appear to fit with each other and may have been painted at different times. The children behind the donors wearing white shrouds are assumed to have had died before the painting was finished. Due to a lack of secure documentation, attribution was only established in the 20th century to Oostsanen based on underdrawings and comparison to his other works. The portrayed donors have been variously named due to a combination of genealogical research and identification of the coats of arms. Part of the documentation problem is not knowing whether the shrouded children were recorded as baptized or not. Currently RKDimages states that the left wing shows Claes Bouwensz. Cat (died 1536) with Saint Jerome and the right wing shows Volckgen Jansdr. with Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Saint Anthony Abbot RKDimages Oostsanen Saint Christopher Jerome Catherine of Alexandria Saint Jerome Saint Catherine of Alexandria