Diptych of The Justice of Emperor III (c. 1460)

Alongside Memling, Bouts can be considered the most important successor to Rogier van der Weyden. Little is known about his training and early work. Even if not actually a pupil of Rogier himself, Bouts was profoundly influenced by his work. He developed Rogier's style to an almost radical degree in his verticalization of architecture and figures, his reduction of the individual in favour of the type, and his concealment of the body behind exquisite, minutely detailed garments. Whether we can view these as the first indications of a specifically northern Netherlandish art with a Protestant flavour, or whether Bouts was simply part of the more general trend sweeping over Europe after the middle of the century, is hard to decide. Whatever the case, the stylistic features intensified from the Eucharist Altar in Louvain (1464-1467) to Diptych of The Justice of Emperor III in Brussels.

The diptych belongs to the genre of the justice scene, it was painted by Bouts towards the end of his life for the council room in the town hall at Louvain, which had been completed in 1460. The paintings recount the horrific misadventure that befell Otto III and his treacherous wife. Bouts had found the story in a 12th-century chronicle written by Godefroy, Bishop of Viterbo.