After a two-year restoration campaign, the Saint Denis altarpiece has regained all its splendour and been returned to Liege. Two funds came together to finance the project: the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund and the David Constant Fund.

This early 16th century retable is exceptional because of the quality of the sculpture, its impressive size (4.79 metres high) and its partial original polychrome.

The masterpiece has been attributed to the Brussels sculptor Jan Borman the Younger and the painter Lambert Lombard (for the shutters). The upper part, the case, shows the Passion of Christ, whilst the lower part, the predella, tells the life of Saint Denis.

Entrusted to the Royal Institute for Artistic Heritage in Brussels for study and restoration, the retable has regained all its brilliance and become a reference for polychrome sculpture in the region. On the one hand, it seems that the partial polychrome, which had hitherto been considered the result of a 19th century intervention, is in fact original. On the other hand a dendrochronological study has re-opened the debate about attribution and collaboration between various workshops in Brussels, Liege and perhaps elsewhere. The current on-going research promises to be fascinating.

This considerable project could not have been completed without the support of the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund and the David Constant Fund.