Altarpiece of Saints Thomas and Matthias

Around 1515 the Brussels guild of masons and carpenters ordered an altarpiece for its patron saints, the apostles Thomas and Matthias. This is its central panel, and its wings are in Brussels today. Van Orley, still early in his career, split the panel in two with a piece of fantastical architecture and gave each apostle one half. On the left, Thomas is forced to walk over red-hot irons and is then pushed into a furnace. On the right, the apostles choose Matthias by lot to take the place Judas had left empty, and behind them his later story plays out in small scenes, a poisoned cup offered to him and the deaths of his enemies. Thomas was a natural saint for builders, since legend made him the apostle an Indian king hired to build him a palace. The Vienna collection acquired the panel in 1809.