| The Triptych of Jan Crabbe named after the abbot of Les Dunes (1457-88) who commissioned it on the occasion of completing fifteen years in office. While the central panel is now in Vicenza (Museo Civico), the inner wings are in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, and the outside wings (not shown) in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges (Inv O.1254-5). Jan Crabbe instituted a daily Mass in the newly-constructed chapel of the Bruges Refuge of Les Dunes in 1479, and as this was dedicated to the Virgin, St John the Baptist, and St John Evangelist, and the fact that these are depicted on the triptych has been interpreted by one authority as proof that this was the altarpiece of the new chapel. These figures, however, are traditionally included in Crucifixion scenes and is not necessarily proof of provenance. An earlier date, in the range 1467-70, is in fact suggested by the style which owes a great deal to Van der Weyden. The central scene shows Jan Crabbe kneeling with his hands clasped in prayer and his crozier under his left arm. He is protected by Bernard whose hand rests on his shoulder. The left wing shows St Anne with the kneeling figure of the abbot's mother, Anne, and the right wing St William of Maleval with the kneeling figure of the abbot's younger brother, William, both saints with their hands on the shoulders in the same way as Bernard. An anonymous copy made in the 18th century as one painting (now in Venice's Ca' d'Oro and illustrated in Virdis 2002, 11) has facilitated the identification of the three constituent parts now in three different museums.
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