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Hospices de Beaune Angels 1
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Hospices de Beaune Angels 2
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Hospices de Beaune, Angels 3
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Hospices de Beaune, Angels 4
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Hospices de Beaune, Angels 5
Hospices de Beaune, Angels no. 1-5
pencil on paper
format: 10x10 cm
framed 22 x 22 cm
october 2021
In Hospices de Beaune, Hôtel- Dieu great property and great poverty come together. Nicolas Rolin (around 1376-1461) and his wife Guigine de Salins (1403-1470) were prominent and rich members of former French society. Especially Guigone de Salins stimulated her husband to do charity and after his death she moved from Autun to Beaune where in 1455 she founded and took leadership of the Hôtel-Dieu. A 'palace for the poor', where nurses took care of the ill, the poor and the orphans. Until 1970 nurses and doctors worked in this harmonious setting. The hospital still exists, now in a modern building in the centre of Beaune. The old building became a museum where you will find The Final Judgement, painted by Rogier Van Der Weijden, on commission of Nicolas Rolin. This famous altarpiece shows a lot of angels.
While walking around I felt a strong connection and compared health care in this Hôtel-Dieu with the health situation during the COVID pandemic. During COVID nurses and doctors often were compared with angels. I made a series of drawings on this topic, the angels are not vissible, they keep themselves hidden. For these works I chose pencil on paper, matching the beautiful roofs of the southern entrance and front, made of black slate, beautiful in its simplicity. The other roofs have famous, multicolored tiles in red, brown, yellow and green.
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