Saint Denis Altarpiece

Henri Bellechose's Saint Denis Altarpiece, painted in 1416 and now in the Louvre, is one of the masterpieces of early fifteenth-century French court painting. Bellechose succeeded Malouel as court painter to the Duke of Burgundy and finished this altarpiece that Malouel had left incomplete. The work depicts the martyrdom of Saint Denis, patron saint of France, who was beheaded on Montmartre along with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius. The unusual composition includes a Pietà at the upper center, connecting the martyrdom of Denis with the Passion of Christ. The altarpiece is a monument of International Gothic painting, combining richly illuminated manuscript traditions with large-scale panel painting.

Bellechose employs the gold ground conventional to International Gothic altarpieces, but his figures display unusual solidity and weight anticipating the Netherlandish revolution of the following decades. The red of the executioner's robe provides a vivid chromatic focus. Faces are individually characterized with a new naturalistic attention to expression.