Portrait of Joris van Egmond (1504-1559)

For centuries the bishops of Utrecht had also been princes. That ended in 1528, when the bishop handed his worldly power to the emperor Charles V. From then on the post was a church office only, and in 1534 Charles gave it to Joris van Egmond, a 30-year-old from one of the leading noble families of Holland. Scorel painted him in the years that followed as a nobleman, in a black gown lined with fur, white ruffles at the collar and cuffs, a black beret, his hands on a red patterned cushion. The only sign of his office is on the frame, a Latin inscription naming George of Egmond, bishop of Utrecht. He lived mostly at the abbey of Saint-Amand in northern France and died there in 1559, and his heart was sent back to a monument in Utrecht cathedral. The panel belongs to private collectors and has been on loan to the Rijksmuseum since 1997.