In the Place du Grand Sablon in Brussels various groups of magistrates, confraternities, religious orders and leading citizens march with a statue of the Virgin and the reliquary of Saint Juliana of Nicomedia. The painting is part of a series commissioned from Van Alsloot by Albert of Austria and Isabel Clara Eugenia, governors of the Spanish Netherlands, to mark various festivities that took place in Brussels in May 1615. The figures are probably by the painter Antoon Sallaert.

In a display of skilled shooting accompanied by consider able good luck, on 15 May 1615 sabel Clara Eugenia fired her crossbow and hit the wooden bird that topped the spire of the church of Notre-Dame du Sablon in Brussels. The infanta thus became the ‘queen’ of the annual competition organised by the Grand Serment des Arbalétriers or guild of crossbowmen, the oldest and most prestigious of the capital’s urban militia. The infanta’s participation in 1615 reflected a long-standing dynastic

Hunting in the woods, Acteon stops on the banks of a stream when he sees Diana and her nymphs bathing nude on the opposite bank. Fascinated by their beauty, he observes them with a challenging and amused expression, unaware of the cost of his boldness. Indeed, the outcome will be tragic, as Diana, goddess of chastity, is furious at being seen in the nude by a mortal. She responds by transforming the ill-fated hunter into a buck, who is immediately devoured by his own bloodhounds. The story of Di

The inhabitants of Antwerp enjoy skating on the frozen water in the moats alongside the city walls. Divided into groups, some disguised and others elegantly dressed, the represent diverse attitudes and stereotypes from the celebration of Carnival. Images of feasts and celebrations in the Low Countries are common in the work of Denis van Alsloot. In his customary manner, he creates a very detailed composition in which all the architectural elements are rendered with precision and the figures are