[3] It is surrounded by four images of a hand sowing seeds, a pun on the name of the donor which means "from the new garden".

This unity of space was also emphasized by small details like the carpet to the left of Mary, which reappears beneath the hands of van Nieuwenhove.

Through the open window, one can see the Minnewater, also (mistakenly) known as the "Lake of Love" ('minne' being the Medieval term for 'love' in Dutch), a romantic corner of Bruges.

[5] Maarten van Nieuwenhove (11 November 1463 - 16 August 1500) came from a noble family of Bruges with connections at the court of Burgundy.

In the 1490s, Van Nieuwenhove was successively a city councilor, the captain of the civic guard, and in 1498 mayor of Bruges.