MEDIA RELEASE

Archdiocese Makes Bicentennial Gift to the Speed Art Museum

(Louisville, Kentucky) The Archdiocese of Louisville announced that it is donating a historic painting to the Speed Art Museum as a long-term loan. William of Aquitaine Converted by Saint Bernard, by Gaspar de Crayer, was first brought to the Diocese of Bardstown by the great Kentucky missionary, Father Charles Nerinckx. The painting is currently on view in the Foyer of the Speed Art Museum.

The work was originally commissioned after 1650 for the Cistercian abbey for women in Zwijveke (southern Flanders). St. Bernard is one of the reformers of the Cistercian order, and this painting was originally intended as an altarpiece for one of the altars of the abbey. It came to Kentucky during one of Father Charles Nerinckx’s trips to Belgium in either 1815 or 1920. According to a 1952 article in The Courier Journal, Father Nerinckx is “said to have purchased the painting from among the wrecks of a church that had been recently sacked by the French.” Father Nerinckx presented the work to St. Joseph Cathedral in Bardstown. When the diocese was transferred to Louisville in 1841, the painting eventually moved to the new Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville.

From 1852 to 1865, the painting hung over a temporary side altar on the right (Gospel) side of the chancel. In 1865 Bishop Peter Joseph Lavialle removed the temporary side altars and moved the painting to the aisle walls of the Cathedral. The painting hung in the Cathedral until its 1972 renovation.

The painting depicts a scene from the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a great monastic leader and reformer who lived in the 12th century. William, the French Duke of Aquitaine, was supporting the antipope in the Schism of 1120 and was excommunicated by Pope Innocent II. St. Bernard traveled to Aquitaine to confront William, and during Mass, the Duke of Aquitaine repented. The painting depicts William rising from repentance to received Holy Communion from St. Bernard. Some accounts state that William of Aquitaine “expiated his sins in hermitism” after his encounter with St. Bernard.

For many years, this painting was attributed to the Flemish master Sir Anthony Van Dyke. However, in 1952 when the painting was restored during the centennial celebration of the Cathedral of the Assumption, two art scholars making independent investigations attributed the painting to Flemish artist Gaspar de Crayer (1584-1669).

Gaspar de Crayer was born in Antwerp and was the son of a school teacher. His father apprenticed him as a painter to Raphael Coxie in Brussels. By the age of 23, he was a guild master. He was influenced by both Rubens and Van Dyke, who painted de Crayer’s portrait. De Crayer is described as one of the most productive church painters of his time, and hundreds of altarpieces are attributed to him.

Before being presented to the Speed, the painting was restored at the McKay Lodge Laboratory in Oberlin, Ohio, thanks to the generosity of Christy and Owsley Brown.A national leader in arts education, serving more than 30,000 children each year, the Speed Art Museum has repeatedly been voted Kentucky’s best museum and is considered one of the top ten sites each Kentuckian should visit. The Speed honors its mission to bring great art to our communities through its distinguished collections and as the Commonwealth’s number-one venue for international art exhibitions.

Founded in 1808 as the first inland diocese in the United States, the Archdiocese of Louisville extends through 24 counties in Central Kentucky and serves 200,000 Catholics. The Archdiocese began its bicentennial celebration in March of 2007. It will culminate with a Mass and community celebration at Slugger Field on June 29, 2008. For more information, please see www.archlou.org/bicentennial.

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