Geertgen tot Sint Jans by Karel van Mander, published in 1604. The reconstruction of Geertgen's active dates has recently been done by Kemperdick and Sander in 2007 stating:
Though it seems a sleepy little suburban community of Amsterdam today, in the 14th century Haarlem was a major city. It was the second largest city in historical Holland after Dordrecht and before Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda and Rotterdam. In 1429 the city gained the right to collect tolls, including ships passing the city on the Spaarne river. At the end of the Middle Ages Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries.
Around 1428 the city was put under siege by the army of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut. Haarlem had taken side with the Cods in the Hook and Cod wars, and thus against Jacoba of Bavaria. The entire Haarlemmerhout wood was burnt down by the enemy. In 1469 the commandry of St. John in Haarlem was promoted to a special status that fell directly under the grand Prior of Germany. Before that it was a subordinate commandry of the Balij of Utrecht, which had 12 commandries reporting to it. The commandry of St. John became quite wealthy from donations by the local families Berkenrode, Assendelft, van Brederode, Tetrode, Schoten, and Adrichem. Schoten was also the location of a St. Lazarus church (currently part of Het Dolhuys) that later came into the possession of the St. Janskerk.Geertgen painted The Lamentation of Christ for the altarpiece of the church of the Knights of Saint John in Haarlem. The painting Lamentation was copied by Jacob Matham in 1620, a mirror image engraving, that includes a Latin poem by Joan Albert Ban, a dedication to Jacob van Campen, and Latin quote by Albrecht Dürer, showing that three men were inspired by this painting. The other side of this altarpiece is showing the burning of the bones of St. John. Probably contains a group portrait of the Haarlem members of the order of St. John, with the Commandeur or Precepteur holding the finger of St. John. The St. John's church in Haarlem is where this painting formed the main altarpiece, currently home for the North Holland Archives.
Lamentation of Christ
Detail Lamentation
Of the paintings mentioned by Van Mander, the only one to survive is one wing of his triptych for an altar of the Knights of St. John at Haarlem, the two sides of which were sawn apart in about 1600, and are now in Vienna as The Legend of the Relics of St. John the Baptist, and the Lamentation of Jesus. The rest was destroyed during the siege of Haarlem in 1573.

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