Saint Bavo’s Church

There are many paintings depicting the Last Supper, usually including 13 people: the twelve apostles and Jesus. Sometimes, however, you may discover another character, usually the person who commissioned the artwork or a self-portrait of the painter. Here in Oud-Turnhout you can find such a unique work of art in which the artist, peering out from behind a column, looks you straight in the eye.

This simple, predominantly Gothic and Classicist church was built and rebuilt between the 14th and the early 20th century. Traces from all these periods can still be seen today. Many furnishings, including the 19th century stained glass windows, are neo-Gothic. The church, which is located on the outskirts of the village, is dedicated to Saint Bavo, the patron saint of falconers, many of whom frequented the forests in the Kempen region.

Jan Erasmus Quellinus painted this canvas in 1696 at the behest of Corsendonk Priory. It shows the moment when Christ blessed the bread. The painter turned it into a dynamic scene set against an impressive background. To create this setting the painter’s son Quellinus drew inspiration from the Venetian painter Paolo Veronese and from his father, Erasmus Quellinus II, who taught him.