After its exceptional 25th anniversary appearance at BRAFA in 2012, the King Baudouin Foundation is returning to its established formula at the 2013 event, focusing on its most recent acquisitions and enabling visitors to the Brussels Antiques and Fine Arts Fair to find out more about how it operates in the field of cultural heritage.

Among the Heritage Fund’s most recent acquisitions is a masterpiece of Flemish Baroque: La Charité, made in the 17th century by Jan Van Delen. The Princes of Thurn und Taxis had commissioned this work to adorn their funeral chapel in the Sablon Church in Brussels.

Confiscated by French revolutionaries in 1794, it then disappeared without trace.
Recently rediscovered in Paris it was put forward for auction in London. Thanks, however, to the intervention of the Heritage Fund, the statue was brought back to Brussels and will soon be accessible to the general public once more, initially in the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique, but then in its original site in the Chapelle Sainte Ursule at the Sablon Church.

A manuscript copy of Rubens’s notebook, made in the 17th century has also been able to be purchased and returned to Belgium. In it, Rubens describes, using sketches and notes, his personal theories about the ideal proportions for the human body. This unique testimony throws new light on the artistic principals of the great Flemish master. This copy of his notebook is even more precious, given that the original notebook disappeared in a fire at the start of the 18th century.

Our grateful thanks to the organizers of BRAFA and to our generous donors who join us in supporting our heritage.

Practical information:
19/01/2013 to 27/01/2013
Opening times: 11.00 - 19.00
Location: Tour & Taxis, Avenue du Port 86C, 1000 Brussels
Entrance: € 20