Bernard Van, an eminent painter, was born in Brussels about 1490. After studying at Rome under Raphael, he returned to settle in his native town, bringing back with him much of the taste and the grand style of the Italian masters. In a short time he had risen to professional eminence. Margaret of Austria, the ruler of the Netherlands, appointed him her painter; he executed several pictures for churches both in Antwerp and Brussels; and his pencil was employed by Charles V. in painting, as cartoons for tapestries, several hunting pieces representing the emperor and his nobles in the Forest of Soignies. At the time of his death, about 1560, his pictures had amounted to a large number. A list of them, and of the places in which they are to be seen, is given in Stanley's enlarged edition of Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers.

Two other artists called Orley—namely, Richard Van and Jan Van—were also natives of Brussels.