Altarpiece of the Guild of the Joiners

The Guild of the Joiners (Sint-Lucasgilde) commissioned this altarpiece from Metsys in 1511, depicting the Lamentation with a complex program of suffering and piety. The Antwerp joiners' guild commission reflected the period's close connection between craft guilds and religious visual culture — the guilds were responsible for decorating their chapel altars and chose their painters from the city's art market. Metsys was at the height of his career in 1511, having established himself as the preeminent Antwerp painter in the years after Jan Gossaert and before Joachim Patinir and Joos van Cleve expanded the city's painting options.

Large-scale composition organizes multiple figures across an architectural setting with careful attention to spatial recession. Oil glazes over detailed underdrawing create the rich, saturated palette characteristic of Metsys's major altarpiece commissions.