The Courtroom Of The Burgt Vrije, In Bruges
De Gerechtzaal Van De Burgt Vrije, Te Brugge (The Courtroom Of The Burgt Vrije, In Bruges) c1835 by Belgian Painter François Joseph Corneille Haseleer (1804 – 1890); a landscape, historical and genre painter.
This is a genre courtroom scene of a young woman with her lawyer who is trying to get her to sit on a stool that is in front of a tribunal comprising 5 judges.
The most senior judge is sitting at the head of the table, the second most senior judge on his right reading a book and sitting with other books on his left side; and the three other judges are on the left of the senior judge, with one whispering something into the ear of one of the other judges.
The courtroom is elaborately decorated along the ceiling and walls with beautifully carved wooden figures separated into three sets.
On the left is a king in armor holding a globe in his hand with his queen on his right side, with cherubs and crest around them, with a partition that has more cherubs , with tow holding some sort of disc.
Then the wall transitions into the centerpiece which filled with a large number of crest with four cherubs on either side of a king in armor standing on a platform, with a sword in his outstretched right hand and a globe in his left hand with two lions on below him on either side looking up toward him.
Then there is another column partition similar to the first that transitions to the last section that has a king in armor holding a sword in his raised right hand with his queen standing by his left side and more cherubs around them with additional crest.
Below these carvings seems to be a black marble shelf that goes around the perimeter; and below that shelf are intricate carvings of wood on either side of urns and flowers that highlight the central fireplace.
This fireplace has two black marble columns the coincide with the wooden columns above them that have two cherubs per column on them; with four white marble inlaid panels at the top.
Below the panels, embedded in the black marble are three brass hook like pieces and on either side of the sculpted columns are two brass orb stands in front of a panel that is blocking the section where the wood is burned.
The floor of the courtroom is covered in white and blue slate tiles, with the room being illuminated by streaming rays of sunlight that are coming in through a large pane glass window above the judges and also from the right side of the judges; and on the far right is a passageway covered by a green drape.
This is a remastered digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image that is available as a canvas print online.