The MAS keeps an extensive and important collection of historical tokens and coins, among which these three masterpieces. They were made for the guilds or trades. These were professional and interest associations led by a dean elected by the members.
The tile panel 'The Conversion of Saul' is one of the most important pieces of the MAS I Vleeshuis collection, the collection of applied arts and history from the city of Antwerp.
The MAS collection contains a number of beautiful stained-glass windows from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Two of the rare intact examples are listed as Flemish masterpieces: rather large stained-glass windows from around 1600 depicting the Mystical Marriage of Christ.
In 1873, the Antwerp Museum of Antiquities purchased a 16th-century retable of the Averbode Abbey, depicting the Lamentation of Christ. 150 years later, it is given on long-term loan to the abbey and thus returns home.
Pierre-Yves Kairis (b. 1958) is a doctor of art history at the Université de Liège. He was closely involved in the restoration of “The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine,” a painting by Michaelina Wautier.
CLOSED - Great art needs no explanation to touch people. Some works of art leave observers bewildered; others allow them to 'see' from a different perspective. The exhibition 'Encounters' was about a universal experience of art. Dancers in the exhibition were guides of sensibility for the observer; they reinforced the total experience.