Triptych of Nava and Grimon

Coecke van Aelst's Triptych of Nava and Grimon from 1546, painted near the end of his life, is a large-scale devotional commission combining his mature synthesis of Flemish altarpiece tradition with the architectural grandeur he had absorbed from Italian sources and his own architectural publications. The triptych format, with its hinged wings that could be closed on secular days and opened for religious occasions, was the dominant vehicle for Flemish sacred painting and Coecke's version demonstrates his command of its pictorial possibilities. He ran one of the most productive and influential workshops in Antwerp, training Pieter Bruegel the Elder among others, and his triptychs were exported throughout the Catholic world, reflecting Antwerp's role as the commercial and cultural hub of northern Europe in the mid-sixteenth century.

The triptych format allows Coecke to develop a complex devotional program across three panels, with his characteristic blend of Netherlandish precision and Italianate spatial design.