Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

68 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION

The Census at Bethlehem
(1610)
Pieter Brueghel the Younger
(c.1564–1638) produced a
version of this subject, some
40 years after the original by
his father. Both works are in
the collection, showing the
progression to the son’s
smoother style.

. The Annunciation (1406–07)
The Master of Flémalle, Robert
Campin (c.1375–1444) depicted
Archangel Gabriel announcing the
imminent birth of the Messiah in a
contemporary setting. The everyday
objects offer a homely contrast to
the momentous nature of the event.

Officially known as the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts
de Belgique, the Musée d’Art Ancien, Musée d’Art
Moderne and Musée Magritte are Brussels’s premier art
museums. The buildings cover two eras, ancien (15th to
18th century) and moderne (19th century to present day),
as well as René Magritte’s works from the early 1900s to

1967. The Musée d’Art Ancien opened in 1887 and has
      the finest collection of Flemish art in the world. Housed
      in a Neo-Classical building, designed by fashionable
      architect Alphonse Balat between 1874 and 1880, the
      collection was put together in the late 18th century, when
      it was made up of paint ings looted by the French
      Revolutionary Army. Many more were recovered from
      France after 1815, and the Musée d’Art Ancien is now the
      largest of the museums and is famed for holding the finest
      collection of Flemish art in the world, with Old Masters
      such as van Dyck and Rubens very well represented.

Musées Royaux des

Beaux-Arts de Belgique s

Musée d’Art Ancien

STAR PAINTINGS

. The Assumption
of the Virgin
. The Annunciation

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp262–3 and pp284–6

Façade of Museum

Corinthian columns

and busts of Flemish

painters adorn the

entrance.

Ground

level

Main

Entrance

Entrance to

The Museum

Shop