Aert van den Bossche

This assumption is further confirmed by the fact that when he registered in the Bruges Guild of Saint Luke he signed with the name 'Harnoult van den Boske'.

[2] It is also known that Aert's father, the painter Yanne van den Bossche, had received some orders from the Brussels shoe-makers' guild as well.

[5] The only written proof that a specific artwork had been commissioned from him personally is a receipt of 1490 for the remuneration paid by the Brussels shoemakers' guild for the triptych of the Martyrdom of the Saints Crispin and Crispinian.

[5] On stylistic grounds it is believed that Aert van den Bossche painted the right wing of the Triptych with the Miracles of Christ.

According to the Christian legend the two saints were twin brothers born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD.

[6] They became the patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers, and the church honoured them with a feast day celebrated on 25 October.

In the early 19th century, the central part (or the largest middle panel) was purchased in St. Petersburg from a private owner by Count Stanisław Potocki, Master of the Horse (Konyushy) at the court of the Russian Tsar during the foreign Partitions of Poland.

[9] The written record confirms that the masterpiece was donated by the guild as an altarpiece for the St. Nicholas Church, located next to the Bourse, in Brussels to secure their own prosperity.

[16] Although there is still no unanimity on the attribution of each panel of the work, it is generally believed that the triptych represents a collaboration between three artists working in Brussels at the same time: the Master of the Legend of Saint Catherine (central panel), the Master of the Princely Portraits (left wing) and Aert van den Bossche.

Rather, the fact that the line of the horizon varies in each panel and that the scale of the figures nor the perspective match up are indications that the three parts of the triptych were produced in separate locations where each artist worked in isolation from the others.

[17] The person who commissioned the work was Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein, a powerful individual connected to the rulers of Burgundy.