_Unknown_ (Early Flemish).
The count and the confessor. The count, attired as a monk, is praying.
Behind him is his patron saint (St. Ambrose), holding a cross in
one hand, a scourge in the other. More important, however, than the
penitence of the count is the splendour of the robes. The picture is a
good illustration of the love of jewellery characteristic of the time.
"That this love of jewels was shared by the painters is sufficiently
shown by the amount and beauty of the jewelled ornaments introduced by
them into their pictures. Not only are brooches and clasps, sceptres
and crowns, studded with precious stones, but the hems of garments
are continually sewn with them, whilst gloves and shoes of state are
likewise so adorned" (Conway, p. 121). This picture is by some ascribed
to Gerard van der Meire (see under 1078).