Around 1465 -1529 · Bruges between Flemish tradition and humanist Renaissance

Zechariah in gray imitates a sculpture on the closed shutter of a triptych; the Virgin breastfeeding the Child is part of an enclosed garden in front of a city. Provost unites illusion, symbol and familiar presence.

Born in Mons around 1465 and died in Bruges in 1529, Jan Provost trained with his father then probably in Simon Marmion's workshop in Valenciennes. After Marmion's death, he married his widow, then enrolled in 1493 in the guild of Saint-Luc in Antwerp before settling in Bruges, where he held several corporate functions. He perhaps simultaneously directed two workshops, in Bruges and Antwerp. Between 1509 and 1527, his religious and political commissions multiplied. In 1520, he directed two workshops simultaneously, in Bruges and Antwerp. Between 1509 and 1527, his religious and political commissions multiplied. In 1520, he directed the ephemeral sets of the triumphal entry of Charles V and met Dürer. His art also revealed the influence of Metsys, Bosch and Gérard David, but retained its own iconographic freedoms. Zechariah, circa 1510, is a gray painted on oak: the restricted color imitates stone and is probably suitable for the closed reverse of a triptych. The Virgin and Child, around 1500, uses models by Campin and Van Eyck. Mary breastfeeds in front of a brocade, under an arcade, in a hortus conclusus opening onto an urban landscape. The small panel combines bodily intimacy, symbolism of virginity and perspective towards the world. None of the approximately one hundred paintings attributed to Provost are signed; underlying and technical drawing therefore remain essential to define the corpus. The "Jean Provost" selection notably compares Zechariah and Virgin and Child.

Provost knows how to make people believe in stone, brocade and flesh in turn: his illusion does not hide the symbol, it gives him a sensitive presence.