Portrait of Abbot Nicholas à Spira  1563

In 1543, Nicholas à Spira (1510-1568) was elected abbot of the abbey of the Norbertine Order at Grimbergen in the southern Netherlands (modern Belgium). He commissioned an altarpiece with his portrait on one wing and that of his patron saint, St. Nicholas, (37.2615) on the other. the painter, the little-known Jacob de Punder (or Jacques de Poindre), portrayed his client wi...