Portraits of counts of Flanders and abbots from the Duinen Abbey

These portraits form a fascinating series in grisaille painting. The 17 panels immortalize the graves of Flanders to whom the Dune Abbey owes much from the eighth century and the abbots from the origin of the abbey in the twelfth century. Inspirators of the whole were abbot Johannes Crabbe (abbot from 1457 to 1488) and the young deceased Mary of Burgundy (14571482). The historical importance of the portrayed is great and such an ensemble is a typical phenomenon from the Low Countries of which few examples have been preserved. The series also continues uninterrupted until the nineteenth century. * The first eight panels served fifteenthcentury wall paintings that were very much in need of replacement and are therefore, in all likelihood, copies of them. They were used to decorate the bookcases for the new library founded by Abbot Crabbe. In this function they received chronicle texts.