An artwork like a medieval comic strip, made for Breda’s Grote Kerk or Church of Our Lady, telling the story of the Sacrament of Niervaert in a number of images. The sacrament is a communion wafer, or host, regarded in the Roman Catholic church as the body of Christ. It is believed to have the capacity to perform miracles.
The largest image shows the gold monstrance (which holds the host); the Latin inscription beneath it translates as ‘Behold the bread of angels’. The final scene in the bottom right depicts a priest showing the miraculous host to the crowd.
Retable of the Sacrament of Niervaert, c. 1535-1538, oil on panel | Stedelijk Museum Breda; on loan from Breda council