Pieter Gillis and Erasmus Diptych

The diptych consists of a pair of oil-on-panel portraits painted by the Flemish artist Quentin Matsys in 1517. Matsys was a prominent painter active in Antwerp during the Northern Renaissance. The work showcases his incredible attention to detail and realistic rendering of textures.

The panels portray the famous Dutch humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam alongside his friend Pieter Gillis. Gillis was a prominent humanist figure who served as the town clerk of Antwerp. The portraits were commissioned to be given as a gift to their mutual friend in England.

The two panels of the 1517 diptych are currently housed together in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp in Belgium. They were originally commissioned to be sent to England as a gift but have since found a permanent home in the painter's native region. The museum preserves them as prime examples of Northern Renaissance portraiture.

Commissioned as a friend's gift in 1517, the diptych was intended to be sent to the English humanist Thomas More. It served as a visual token of the intellectual friendship between the three men. Erasmus himself personally wrote the Latin inscriptions on the panels to explain the symbolism to More.