Triptych with Family Coats of Arms
In the “At Home with Cuypers” gallery, there is a painted triptych—with the panels closed! There’s a special reason for this. It is precisely the reverse side that is remarkable, as it features the Cuypers and Alberdingk Thijm family coats of arms. The left panel features the Cuypers family coat of arms, the motto: Credo Spero Amo (I believe, I hope, I love), and Fiat Voluntas Tua (Thy will be done). The right panel features the Alberdingk Thijm family coat of arms and the motto: Nil Nisi per Christum (Nothing but through Christ). The border around it also reads: Fiat Voluntas Tua (Thy will be done).
On the inside is a painting depicting the Virgin and Child with angels playing music. It is a copy of an original painted in 1518 in the studio of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen. The original likely hung in the Church of the Presentation of Our Lady in Aarle-Rixtel during the time when Pierre and Joseph Cuypers were working on the decoration of this church (1901–1904). The collection of glass negatives includes a negative from the early 1900s showing the original triptych in the workshops. It likely served as a model for the copy, on which fewer angelic musicians were painted and, consequently, different reverse sides were depicted.
It is not known why the copy was made. What we do know is that Pierre Cuypers took a liking to the painting: by adding the family coats of arms, he gave it a personal touch. It is no coincidence that the work has always remained in the family. During the first Cuypers Weekend in 2012, Pierre Cuypers Jr. donated the painting to the Cuypershuis on behalf of the family. It comes from the bequest of his mother, Mrs. E. Cuypers-Kneepkens. Thanks to contributions from many private individuals, raised through a crowdfunding campaign in 2012, it was able to be restored. Since then, the triptych has returned to the place where it was created and is displayed alongside other objects from Cuypers’ home environment.
