
Oil On Canvas, Real Flavor of Old Masters

All WEYDEN, Rogier van der 's Paintings
The Painting Names Are Sorted From A to Z

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Image

Painting (From A to Z)

Details

51163

Abegg Triptych

c. 1445 Oil on oak panel, 102 x 70,5 cm

51150

Annunciation Triptych

c. 1440 Oil on oak panel, 86 x 92 cm

51145

Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 91 x 89 cm

63904

Bladelin Triptych

1480 Oil on oak panel Staatliche Museen, Berlin The exteriors of the wings of the Bladelin Triptych were probably not painted at first; an unknown painter added the Annunciation later, using as a model an engraving by Master FVB, probably active in Bruges 1480-1500, who had been strongly influenced by Rogier van der Weyden.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Bladelin Triptych (exterior) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63907

Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 91 x 40 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The scenes in the side panels depict the advent of the Son of God on earth being announced in miraculous visions to the Roman emperor Octavian (Augustus) and to the three Magi. The Christ Child receives the homage of both East and West, that is to say the whole world as displayed in the panorama of the open triptych: the West is symbolized by the Roman empire - which was regarded as the direct predecessor of the medieval Holy Roman Empire - the East by the Magi, and between them stands the Holy Land with Bethlehem, to the medieval mind the centre and navel of the world. The visions seen by these ruler are taken from a text popular at the time, but never previously illustrated in this - - the chapter on the Nativity in the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend, a collection of tales of the saints written around 1270 by the Dominican monk Jacobus de Voragine (1228/29-1298). However, there were certain problems involved in illustrating it in realistic detail. It was particularly difficult to present Octavian's vision of the Madonna on an altar hovering in the sky, not borne up by angels or similar figures. Rogier solved this problem by seating the Virgin on an obviously heavy altar, so closely framed by the opening that she looks almost like a picture within the picture, providing an optical focus. The donor clearly wanted the text of the legend illustrated literally, and he must at first have asked for actual quotations too, although they were eventually omitted, to the benefit of the work as a whole: infrared photography shows that all the scenes originally contained scrolls to hold wording. The left-hand picture, for instance, was to quote the words miraculously heard by Octavian, according to the legend, on seeing the vision: Haec est ara coeli ("This is the altar of Heaven"). However, during the execution of the triptych it obviously became clear that the pictures would make their point even without any explanatory text, and the wording was overpainted. Such a decision cannot have been taken without the consent of the patron who commissioned the altarpiece, and perhaps it may have been made during a conversation between Rogier and his client when the latter visited the artist's studio.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Bladelin Triptych (left wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63918

Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 91 x 89 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The centre of the triptych shows the Nativity of Christ. The donor wore clothes of a similar fashion to those occurring in Rogier's miniature in the Hainault Chronicle. Apart from the fact that the donor's coat is not made of costly brocade, it greatly resembles the one worn by the duke in the miniature. Unlike Philip, who as the highest-ranking person present keeps on his hat, the "chaperon," the donor in the triptych, kneeling before the Christ Child, has removed his, and wears it slung behind him on his back. The donor of the Middleburg Altarpiece is more closely integrated with the scene than in almost any other Early Netherlandish painting. In his position and attitude he takes the place, within the Nativity narrative, of a shepherd praying, a motif frequent in pictorial tradition. Even in Rogier's Crucifixion Triptych (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), the married couple who commissioned the work are much more obviously outside the events shown, because their attitude of prayer cannot be seen as part of the narrative. But the donor of the Middelburg Altarpiece too is present only in spirit, witnessing the incarnation of God in his meditations. In order to put sufficient distance between him and the Virgin, the artist has resorted to a device already found in the Deposition (Prado, Madrid): the contours of his figure come very close to other items in the pictorial area, but overlap them to a minimal extent. The donor's head comes short of the ruined wall confining the area containing the Virgin, his hands are close to the outline of her dress but do not quite touch it, and the outline of his coat runs past Mary's robe with only a very slight overlap. The man is kept within a vertical area of the painting (an effect reinforced by the black he wears), an area also containing the fine town with its worldly bustle that is his real environment, although here, of course, it represents Bethlehem. The gap in the little wall behind the donor on the right denotes the road he has taken away from everyday life in his piety, an idea also suggested by the end of his head-dress lying on the ground. A carefully calculated equilibrium is perceptible in the composition. There are three large figures on each panel - even the left-hand panel, where the emperor's two advisers at the back are in fact almost hidden by the one in front. The group around the Christ Child describes an upward-pointing triangle, balanced by a downward-pointing triangle created by the outline of the diagonally placed ruin and the two holes in the foreground, which are set on a slant. This surface pattern in the shape of a horizontal rhomboid, however, also creates depth, since the corner of the ruin projecting forward and the figures graduated in a sequence moving backward interlock spatially. But as usual, Rogier restricts the back part of the stage on which his main figures are set: the back wall of the ruin, the wall of Octavian's apartment, and the hill behind the Magi all act as visual barriers at about the same depth. The main purpose of the triangular composition, however, is to emphasize the Virgin Mary, particularly since she is placed approximately on the central axis of the picture. This position might seem natural, but is in fact unusual in depictions of the Nativity, where Mary is generally placed to one side, next to the Child. The dark wall also acts as a contrasting background and forms a kind of baldachin over Mary. This manner of depicting the Virgin was another of Rogier's successful ideas, imitated by many other artists.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Bladelin Triptych (central panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63930

Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 91 x 40 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The scenes in the side panels depict the advent of the Son of God on earth being announced in miraculous visions to the Roman emperor Octavian (Augustus) and to the three Magi. The Christ Child receives the homage of both East and West, that is to say the whole world as displayed in the panorama of the open triptych: the West is symbolized by the Roman empire - which was regarded as the direct predecessor of the medieval Holy Roman Empire - the East by the Magi, and between them stands the Holy Land with Bethlehem, to the medieval mind the centre and navel of the world. The three pictures in the triptych are united not so much by their background setting as by the figures. These are all on the same scale, and are linked to create a compositional line running through the three panels: arranged on both wings in a semi-circle turning in, and on the central panel in a semi-circle turning out, they curve rhythmically in an undulating line - a good example of Rogier's "sense of rhythm." The panels are also linked by the skillful distribution of colour, with the red robe of the oldest king on the right, for instance, echoing the red garments of St. Joseph on the central panel, while the red-patterned gold brocade worn by the central king is matched by Octavian's robe on the opposite wing. These mirror-image correspondences are slightly shifted toward the central axis, and there are many other interrelating colour notes. However, the colour also has other meanings. On the wings, where it is distributed in smaller areas over the surface of the picture and is thus more varied, it illustrates the secular magnificence of earthly rulers, while on the central panel the symphony of red, white and black makes a nobler and sterner effect. Symbolically, white stands for Mary's virginity, while the black worn by the donor was the fashionable colour of the upper classes of the time. The colour composition of the altarpiece as a whole, constantly balancing its slight asymmetries, is well calculated, although ultimately the impression is of rather too regular a kind of diversity, without deep meaning or resonance.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Bladelin Triptych (right wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63905

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Oil on oak panel, 41 x 68 cm (central panel), 41 x 34 cm (wings each) Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The armorial bearings on the back indicate that this portable triptych was the property of Jehan Braque and his wife Catherine de Brabant, of Tournai, who were married in about 1450-51. Jehan Braque died soon afterwards, in 1452; his young widow, who did not marry again till 1461, must have commissioned this triptych in his memory. The Braque Triptych ranks among Rogier van der Weyden's most celebrated works. It is a small-scale work of the kind that were set upon portable altars in the oratories of wealthy individuals. When closed, it shows the classical vanity theme, a skull and a cross. Open, it displays images of Christ in the centre, and to either side - the Virgin, St John the Evangelist, St John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. They are represented against a landscape that is rendered down to the finest detail, with its rivers and mountains, grass and leaves so precisely drawn they could almost be counted and tiny figures visible in the distance in the streets of imaginary towns - a favourite motif of the Flemish masters. Pictures showing busts of Christ and the Virgin had existed earlier north of the Alps, but a sequence of several saints shown half length seems to derive from a type of altarpiece found in Italy from the 13th century onward. The innovation is to place them in front of a wide, coherent landscape relating to the figures themselves not realistically, but in context. It stands for the entire world ruled by Christ and to which He descended incarnate as man, as described at the beginning of the Gospel of St John: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." If the dark exterior was a reminder of the inevitability of death, the wide, radiant interior with its saintly figures allowed the devout viewer to hope for salvation. Artistically, the triptych is very close to the Beaune Altarpiece. The head of the Virgin Mary, and in particular the head of Christ, are so like their counterparts in the picture of the Last Judgment that they must have been executed from the same cartoon (full-size design for a painting). It is not certain whether the work is entirely by Rogier's hand; the underdrawing reveals thin lines not at all typical of him, and perhaps done with a pen instead of Rogier's usual brush. There are also some differences in the artistic execution: the Virgin's face, for instance, looks waxen, and inflexible around the eyes by comparison with the wonderful, tenderly painted, and lifelike Mary Magdalene, which is among Rogier's finest works.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63906

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Oil on oak panel, 41 x 68 cm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The dark exterior was a reminder of the inevitability of death. The left frame bears a saying in French uttered by the skull: "See, you who are so proud and avaricious, my body was once beautiful but now is food for worms.." This skull is intended as a "likeness" of the dead Jean Braque, whose coat-of-arms is shown above it, reminding viewers of their mortality. The inscription on the cross on the right is from the apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus (Chapter 41, 1-2) and laments the bitterness of death.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych (closed) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63908

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Wood, 41 x 34 cm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The picture shows the left wing of the Braque Family Triptych representing St John the Baptist. The lower frame of pictures (original frame) act as a kind of ledge in front of the figures, where John the Baptist can rest his boo. The words being spoken by the figures proceed from their mouths in curved scroll shapes, rather like the speech bubbles of modern strip cartoons. However, the text above the Magdalene, but not spoken by her, is written in a straight line.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych (left wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63909

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Oil on oak panel Mus?e du Louvre, Paris This detail of the left panel shows the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. John the Baptist's most significant act is shown in the broad Netherlandish landscape behind him. As he baptizes the Son of God, an angel holds Christ's garment. Several onlookers in contemporary urban clothing may be the people mentioned in the Gospels as wising to be baptized, though they have not yet undressed.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych (detail) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63922

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Wood, 41 x 68 cm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The central panel shows Christ between the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. The Christ is a superb figure. He is depicted as an unbending judge, from whom there radiates a dazzling, almost transparent light. He holds the globe of the earth in his left hand and raises two fingers of his right in blessing.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych (central panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63931

Braque Family Triptych

1450 Oil on oak panel, 41 x 34 cm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The picture shows the right wing of the Braque Family Triptych representing St Mary Magdalene. This is finest panel of the triptych. She sits with her hand resting on the lid of an alabaster vase, about to spread perfume on Jesus's feet. Her face, veiled with a band of gauze, her blond hair hanging down her back in long waves, even the corselet that only partly conceals her bosom - everything about her suggest not a repentant sinner, but a young woman rightly proud of her beauty. She is tenderly holding the vessel of ointment with which, as the text above reminds us, she anointed the feet of Jesus after moistening them with her tears and drying them with her hair. The text is probably the reason why tears, not entirely suitable to the pictorial context, are running down the Magdalene's face.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Braque Family Triptych (right wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

19350

Christ Appearing to His Mother, approx

1436, tempera and oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

51176

Christus on the Cross with Mary and St John

c. 1460 Oil on oak panel, 325 x 192 cm

51179

Crucifixion Diptych

c. 1460 Oil on oak panel, 180,3 x 92,6 cm

63880

Crucifixion Diptych

1460 OIL on oak panel, 180,3 x 92,3 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PhiladelphiaArtist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Crucifixion Diptych (right panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63911

Crucifixion Triptych

1445 Oil on oak panel, 101 x 35 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The left wing represents Mary Magdalene. The very emotional motif of the Virgin Mary embracing the cross is seldom shown; this dramatic reaction is usually reserved for Mary Magdalene. The Magdalene, however, has assumed a different role here: she stands to the left, entirely withdrawn into herself, more a separate figure than a participant in the event depicted. Curiously, she appears as a matron of fairly advanced years, while Veronica, also isolated in the other wing of the altarpiece, looks more like a Magdalene.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Crucifixion Triptych (left wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63926

Crucifixion Triptych

1445 Oil on oak panel, 101 x 70 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The painting is the central panel of the Crucifixion Altarpiece. The altarpiece was a single panel with two narrow side pictures which were later cut.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Crucifixion Triptych (central panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63933

Crucifixion Triptych

1445 Oil on oak panel, 101 x 35 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The right wing represents St Veronica.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Crucifixion Triptych (right wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

7245

Deposition

c. 1435 Oil on oak panel, 220 x 262 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid

7247

Deposition (detail)

c. 1435 Oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid

7250

Deposition (detail)

c. 1435 Oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid

7252

Deposition (detail)

c. 1435 Oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid

7254

Deposition (detail)

c. 1435 Oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid

63879

Descent from the Cross

1460 Pen over chalk drawing on paper, 240 x 357 mm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris Paintings in the style of Rogier van der Weyden that are no longer extant are also recorded in several drawings not from the workshop of the Brussels town painter. Among the most notable is this Descent from the Cross, frequently said to derive from an original by Rogier himself, and sometimes even ascribed to Robert Campin. Surrounded by Christ's mourning friends, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are carrying the body just taken down from the Cross to the tomb. The very unusual outer area, with raised sections at the sides where angels hover with the nails and the crown of thorns, may refer to the place where the painting connected with this drawing was installed - perhaps it was to be placed below a tall window. The composition obviously appealed to contemporary taste, and was copied in painting and sculpture several times. It shares important elements with Rogier's most influential work, the Deposition (Prado, Madrid): there are considerable similarities in the construction of the scene, which again is transferred to an altar shrine, and in some of the figures, particularly those of the bearded Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene. The Virgin Mary and the flying angels, on the other hand, are more like the corresponding figures in the Crucifixion Triptych (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), and the figure of St John resembles his counterpart in the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece (Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp). However, while in a work like the St Columba Altarpiece (Alte Pinakothek, Munich) the figures, taken from various different pre-existing models, are merged into a meaningful whole, there are discrepancies in the Descent from the Cross. Joseph of Arimathea seems to be standing still as he holds the corpse, but the legs of Nicodemus suggest that he is walking away, an action that clashes with the Virgin's heartfelt embrace of Christ. And the Magdalene is obviously shown twice, as the woman with the vessel of ointment - the saint's attribute - standing on the extreme right, veiled as in the Crucifixion Triptych, and as the figure of the Magdalene from the Deposition, identifiable as the former sinner by her low-cut, expensive dress. These inconsistencies cannot be reconciled with Rogier's careful, confident style, and the drawing cannot therefore be considered a copy from a work conceived by him. In fact it is not yet clear whether it is a copy at all, or whether it may be a sketch for a design.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Descent from the Cross Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - graphics : study

51158

Diptych

c. 1440 Oil on oak panel, 18,5 x 12 cm

63859

Diptych

1440 Oil on oak panel, 18,5 x 12 cm (each) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The two small panels, representing the Madonna and St Catherine of Alexandria, respectively, probably formed a diptych. The busts of prophets on the outside of the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck were the model for the bust of God the Father at the top of the left panel. The figures of Adam and Eve were from the same source. The picture is usually regarded as an early work by Rogier himself from the years 1432-35, but the figure of the Madonna is probably after Jan van Eyck's Madonna of the Fountain, dated 1439, in Antwerp. The right panel is rather weaker, and is not by the same painter as the Madonna. As a king's daughter, Catherine has a crown, but she has taken it off, perhaps a sign of humility and reverence before the Madonna, and has placed it on the ground to lie there ignored. The wheel, her attribute, refers to the failure of the attempt to break her on the wheel; the martyr was finally beheaded with a sword.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Diptych Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

51177

Diptych of Jeanne of France

1452-70 Oil on oak panel, 39 x 27 cm

51160

Dream of Pope Sergius

1437-40 Oil on oak panel, 89 x 80 cm

63869

Entombment of Christ

1450 Oil on oak panel, 110 x 96 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence It is believed - but without absolute certainty - that this Entombment is the centre of a polyptych which was acquired by Leonello d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, for the Study at Belfiore, when the painter went in pilgrimage to Rome in 1449, the year before the Jubilee. It is however more probable that this work - which is also mentioned as being in the Medicean Villa at Careggi - was done in 1449-50 at Florence, because it derives its compositive formula from the Deposition by Fra Angelico which can be seen in the predella of the altarpiece of St Mark in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. This painting, in a Renaissance frame decorated with pilasters, adorned the altar of the private chapel of the Medici villa in Careggi, near Florence. Cosimo de' Medici (1389 -1464) had built this country residence around the middle of the century, and there are good reasons to suppose that the Medici family, who must have owned Rogier's small panel of the Madonna (St?delsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt), also commissioned the larger painting. The work closely follows the Entombment of Christ which was part of an altarpiece by Fra Angelico, painted around 1440 for the Florentine monastery church of San Marco. Its influence is evident in the display of the dead man, shown almost standing, with Mary and John holding his arms one on each side, and more particularly in the hill with the tomb in the rock, which runs entirely counter to Northern European tradition. Fra Angelico's altarpiece, to which the picture of the Entombment, much imitated in Florence, also belonged, was itself an important donation by the Medici family. It is improbable that Rogier van der Weyden saw Fra Angelico's work by chance on his Italian journey, and then reworked it for his own Medici altarpiece - particularly as we do not know whether he passed through Florence at all on his way to Rome. The model was more probably prescribed for him by his patrons when the work was commissioned. Very likely they sent the master a sketch of the work they had donated, telling him to follow it. Such clear guidelines from Florence would also explain why the painting was executed in almost square format, unusual for Netherlandish works but common in Italy and suitable for the architectural Renaissance setting. The patrons who commissioned the work will have been as much struck by the fine, realistic detail of the painting of the Lamentation as by the intense emotion of the faces. These qualities, and the slight asymmetry that suited late Gothic taste, distinguish the picture in significant respects from the work of Fra Angelico. A two-dimensionality at least matching that of the St John Altarpiece (Staatliche Museen, Berlin), and not at all in line with the artistic ideals of the Renaissance, is particularly noticeable in the Magdalene kneeling at the front, her limbs compressed into the same plane. The painting can thus be associated with Rogier's late works coming after the St. Columba Altarpiece (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Entombment of Christ Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

52208

Exhumation of St Hubert

1437-40 Oil on oak

51153

Francesco d'Este

c. 1460 Oil on oak panel, 31,8 x 22,2 cm

87867

Grablegung Christi

c. 1450 Medium Oil on wood Dimensions Deutsch: 111 x 95 cm cjr

51172

Group of Men

c. 1460 Oil on panel, 50,1 x 31,7 cm

63881

Head of the Madonna

1460 Silverpoint on prepared paper, 128 x 109 mm Mus?e du Louvre, Paris The finely drawn Head of the Madonna is obviously not from life. It represents a type of the Virgin very frequent in Rogier's work, and comparable to the panel of the Madonna that was one leaf of a diptych, with the other showing Jean Gros (Mus?e des Beaux-Arts, Tournai, and Art Institute, Chicago). A similar painting must have been the model for this drawing, which executes the face in fine detail, translating colour values into black and white, for instance in the lips, but breaks sharply with this precision where the head-dress begins; the folds of the cloth are merely suggested by a few outlines obviously copied from an existing model. In all its details, including the folds of the headdress, the drawing resembles the head of a half length painted Madonna from the circle around Rogier, now on permanent loan to the Kurpfalzisches Museum, Heidelberg. It could either precede the drawing, which may have been from Rogier's workshop, or have been painted from it. The Head of the Madonna, however, conveys an impression of what some of the drawings in the stocks of Rogier's workshop may have been like.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Head of the Madonna Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - graphics : study

51989

Isabella of Portugal

c. 1500 Oil on panel, 47 x 38 cm

63849

Lady Wearing a Gauze Headdress

1445 Oil on oak panel, 47 x 32 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin Leaving aside the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy (Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal), which have been preserved only in copies (by anonymous masters, now in Berlin and Malibu), the only extant panel portrait from the period before about 1450 is the Portrait of a Young Woman. The young woman, with her expansive Flemish winged or horned coif of fine linen, through which the forehead remains visible, fills almost the entire panel. The 'nakedness' of the face and the softness of the features form an attractive contrast to the firm outlines of the stiffly folded linen and the dark background. The sitter's hands with beringed fingers are laid firmly on one another and rest on an invisible sill, support being provided visually by the frame. While in his twenties the artist married Elisabeth Goffaerts, a native of Brussels, and it has been generally assumed that she is the subject of the Berlin portrait. Although there is no real foundation for it, this is not an unreasonable assumption; the open, warmhearted expression seems to preclude an official portrait and to suggest someone close to the artist. It was undoubtedly this impression of intimacy created in this portrait - it occurs nowhere else in the painter's work - which seemed to call for some explanation. To portray the subject looking directly at the viewer was something quite new when this painting was executed; in the Netherlands this technique occurs for the first time in van Eyck's portraits. The resemblance to the portrait of a woman by the Master of Fl?malle (now in the National Gallery, London) is worth noting. The artist has modelled his subject with sympathy and sensitivity, while avoiding contact with the observer.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Lady Wearing a Gauze Headdress Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : portrait

63865

Lamentation

1441 Wood, 32,2 x 47,2 cm Mus?es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels The latest studies attribute this Lamentation directly to Rogier van der Weyden, a pupil of the Master of Fl?malle and one of the most important and influential of the Flemish Primitives. The style and pictorial qualities of the painting match those of other Van der Weyden panels that are documented by archival material. A few authors, however, believe this Lamentation to be by his workshop, because of the various versions that exist of this composition, some of which have definitely been produced by assistants. Van der Weyden had so much work that he left the reproduction of popular compositions like the Lamentation to the other painters in his workshop. Dendrochronological research - the dating of a wooden panel based on the growth rings - places this version at around 1441, i.e. relatively early in the painter's career. Depicted is the lamentation of Christ under the cross, a scene that does not appear as such in the Bible. To the left we see John the Evangelist, barefoot and robed in a red mantle. His right hand supports the Saviour's upper body, which is resting against the Virgin's knee. With his left hand he is comforting Mary. The Mother of God supports her Son's limp head and presses her cheek against his. At Christ's feet Mary Magdalen kneels in veneration, alongside her an ointment pot, her customary attribute. The skull in the foreground refers to the location, Golgotha, literally "place of the skull". Apocryphal texts frequently interpret this as the skull of Adam, whose fall brought death on the human race, and whose original sin Christ died to expiate. The withered trees to the left and right are also taken from medieval Passion stories, certain of which tell that all trees withered when the Saviour gave up the spirit. The emotional intensity of the Lamentation witnesses to the influence of 'devotio moderna', with this type of tableau intended to move the viewer to compassion. Closer contemplation of the Passion would then lead to the imitation of Christ, or place the viewer into the right frame of mind to receive communion.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Lamentation Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

51147

Mary Altarpiece

c. 1440 Oil on oak panel 71 x 43 cm

51173

Miniature from the first page of the Chroniques de Hainaut

1448 Opaque colours, gold, and pen

63913

Miraflores Altarpiece

1440 Oil on oak panel, 71 x 43 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The left panel of the Miraflores Altarpiece depicts the Holy Family.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Miraflores Altarpiece (left panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63934

Miraflores Altarpiece

1440 Oil on oak panel, 71 x 43 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The right panel of the Miraflores Altarpiece depicts the risen Christ with his mother.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Miraflores Altarpiece (right panel) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63935

Miraflores Altarpiece

1440 Oil on oak panel Staatliche Museen, Berlin The scene on the right panel is the only one in this altarpiece that illustrates two events at once: in the foreground we see Christ appearing to the Virgin Mary, while in the background we can see the immediately preceding event, His resurrection on Easter morning. The artist may have thought it necessary to explain the main scene, which was not often painted. The winding road from the tomb to the building in the foreground makes it clear that Christ went to his mother at once, so that she would be the first to experience the joy of reunion with him.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Miraflores Altarpiece (detail) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63919

Pierre Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on wood Staatliche Museen, Berlin The picture shows a detail of the background of the central panel depicting the Nativity.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Pierre Bladelin Triptych (detail) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63920

Pierre Bladelin Triptych

1445-50 Oil on wood Staatliche Museen, Berlin The picture shows a detail of the central panel depicting the Nativity.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Pierre Bladelin Triptych (detail) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63921

Pierre Bladelin Triptych

87154

Pieta

Date c. 1464(1464) Medium Oil on wood Dimensions Height: 35.5 cm (14 in). Width: 45 cm (17.7 in). cjr

63860

Portrait Diptych of Jean de Gros

1450s Oil on oak panel, 36 x 27 cm Mus?e des Beaux-Arts, Tournai Of the Madonnas in the portrait diptychs, the most interesting is the one accompanying the Portrait of Jean de Gros (Art Institute, Chicago). She represents one of the early types of half length figures of the Virgin, which were used in many pictures by Rogier's successors, and copied with what are often only very slight deviations. The head of Mary in particular recurs almost unchanged in many pictures from Rogier's workshop or by his close colleagues, and has come down to us, for instance, in a drawing that was intended as the model for a painting (Mus?e du Louvre, Paris). This panel of the Madonna formed a diptych with the portrait of Jean de Gros; both have the donor's motto and emblem on the back. The painting has suffered from its poor state of preservation, and may perhaps be by a workshop assistant.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait Diptych of Jean de Gros (left wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

51166

Portrait Diptych of Laurent Froimont

1460s Oil on oak panel, 51,5 x 33,5 cm

51167

Portrait Diptych of Laurent Froimont

1460s Oil on oak panel, 49,3 x 31,5 cm

63870

Portrait Diptych of Laurent Froimont

1460s Oil on oak panel, 49,3 x 31,5 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp The reverse side of the portrait of Laaurent Froimont represents St Lawrence. The name of the subject of the portrait was deduced from this grisaille: St Lawrence (Laurent), with the instrument of his martyrdom, the gridiron, could be the patron after whom the sitter was named, the word "Froimont" on the scroll being the man's family name. However, this is not certain, and no one called Laurent Froimont has yet been traced.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait Diptych of Laurent Froimont (reverse side) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : other

51164

Portrait Diptych of Philippe de Croy

c. 1460 Oil on oak panel, 49 x 31 cm Henry

63863

Portrait Diptych of Philippe de Croy

1460 Oil on oak panel, 49 x 30 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp Philippe de Croy's coat of arms surmounted by a helmet is framed, above, by the name of the subject of the portrait, and below by his title "Seigneur de Sempy." He bore this title from around 1452, but resigned it again in 1461. The painting must therefore have been done within that period. On the left, a vertical board in the panel has been renovated.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait Diptych of Philippe de Croy (reverse side) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : other

63856

Portrait of a Man

1455-60 Oil on oak panel, 32 x 22,8 cm Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid The man, who is of middle age, has not been identified. The fashion in which his hair is cut corresponds roughly to the style worn by Francesco d'Este (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), which would suggest that the two pictures are close in date.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait of a Man Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : portrait

63878

Portrait of a Man

1450 Oil on panel, 75 x 50 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp This portrait is probably a copy from c. 1500 of an original by Rogier van der Weyden which, judging by the fashion of the clothes, was executed around or shortly after the middle of the century. An unusual feature is the elegant low neck, which makes the face seem small. Possibly this, like the clock, and the inscriptions reminding the viewer of the transience of life, was a deviation from the original.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait of a Man Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : portrait

19351

Portrait of a Man Holding a Book

before 1437, oil on wood, Courtauld Institute, London

63866

Portrait of a Young Woman

1440 Silverpoint on prepared paper, 166 x 116 mm British Museum, London The finest of the drawings ascribed to Rogier is the Portrait of a Young Woman. In its freshness of observation and lively expression the drawing comes closest to the painted portrait of another young woman (Staatliche Museen, Berlin), although in contrast to that painting - probably the earliest of the independent portraits by Rogier still extant - the draftsman has modeled the face with much greater plasticity, using light and shade to make shapes like the eyelids appear more rounded and fleshier. This factor in turn links the drawing closely to a portrait of a woman ascribed to the Master of Fl?malle, now in the National Gallery, London, and to the faces in Rogier's earlier Deposition (Prado, Madrid). The strong, bright reflections on the shaded areas of the sitter's throat and cheeks also adopt a method frequently used by Jan van Eyck to heighten the sense of three-dimensionality. By comparison with the chiaroscuro and the powerful three-dimensional style of the drawing, the painted face of the young woman in the portrait appear generally more linear - paradoxically, one might almost say more like a drawing. The draftsman's intention of placing several strong contrasts of light and shade side by side also matches the effects in the Deposition. Like the shaded side of the head of the Virgin, the right-hand side of the portrait drawing shows the alternation of light and very dark areas, and the artist has even shaded the headdress heavily next to the area of reflected light on the sitter's jaw line just below her ear, though this effect is illogical, since if the head-dress is to reflect light it ought to be lit there itself. However, the darkness in the outer area of the drawing, emphasizing the fold at the back of the head-dress, is a genuinely distinctive feature, producing the effect of heavy shadow. There are no such heavy shadows in any painted portrait by Rogier; this pictorial device, creating a sense of space around the figure, first appears in painting around the middle of the century in works by the artist Petrus Christus, who was active in Bruges. Here the draftsman may have created the shadows before drawing the sitter herself, or he may have placed them there to make the back of the headdress retreat into the background - an effect that would also be achieved by the uniform dark ground of a painted portrait. The immediacy of this portrait gives the impression that it was drawn from life. Such an impression is further supported by the fact that only the head and the complicated head-dress are executed in detail, while the upper part of the sitter's body is only lightly indicated; her dress with its patterns of folds could be added later, and leaving it out while the woman herself was being portrayed would have spared her the tedium of sitting for the artist. Such details could easily enough be copied from a painting, but the visible part of the woman's body appears rather awkwardly executed. The right hand on the edge of the picture is particularly jarring, and does not quite connect up anatomically with her shoulder. It is complex in structure, but only half shown, and its clear outline does not make it look like a study from nature. Perhaps the artist completed the lower areas of the portrait later, using a work already in his stock, and experimenting with the composition of his planned painting. All Early Netherlandish portraits were certainly based on drawings from life, for the long process of painting would not have allowed the artist to work from a living model. The Portrait of a Young Woman, outstanding as both a drawing and a portrait, must be one of the very few examples of this genre to have been preserved. Since over and beyond these qualities, the drawing shows similarities with Rogier's painted portraits in its presentation, and with his Deposition in the manner of depicting a head, it could well be by his own hand. It was probably done quite close to the time of the great altarpiece for the Archers of Leuven, while the other (painted) Portrait of a Young Woman must have been executed rather later.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait of a Young Woman Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - graphics : portrait

51155

Portrait of Antony of Burgundy

c. 1461 Oak, 38,4 x 28 cm

51154

Portrait of Charles the Bold

c. 1460 Oil on oak panel, 49 x 32 cm

63762

Portrait of Philip the Good

1520 Oil on oak panel, 29 x 21 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin This panel is one of the many copies of a portrait of the duke painted by Rogier van der Weyden probably around 1450, or soon after. The duke, who was just over 50 at the time, wears the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, its links representing the flints and steels used to make fire.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait of Philip the Good Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : portrait

63854

Portrait of Philip the Good after

1450 Oil on wood, 31 x 23 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The Duchy of Burgundy had its heyday under Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. Between them, they acquired countless new territories, through a cunning combination of astute marriages, timely purchase and the barely legal diversion of other people's inheritances. Rogier van der Weyden received many commissions from the Court of Burgundy. He excelled in portrait. He was not a realist, he did not seek to capture the particular characteristic of his model, but instead tried to create an ideal image. This approach was very popular with his contemporaries, and brought him considerable success in this genre. He was sought after by the grandest aristocrats and prelates, as well as by the wealthy bourgeoisie, who wanted him to record and embellish their features for posterity. Several writers have drawn attention to Van der Weyden's treatment of his sitter's hands, which he almost always painted joined together, discreetly, so as not to distract from their faces, yet quietly present, always serving to underline their serenity.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Portrait of Philip the Good Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : portrait

63875

Scupstoel

1447-50 Pen over chalk tracing on paper, 298 x 425 mm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The curious drawing of the Scupstoel is connected not with a painting but with a sculpture, more precisely the relief ornamentation of a capital. This capital belonged the pillars on the lower floor of the west wing of the Brussels town hall, built from around 1447 to 1450, and although severely damaged it is still extant. Exactly reflecting the motif of the drawing, a carving of men shoveling chairs (a literal translation of the word "Scupstoel" = shovel chair) runs in high relief around the entire capital. The drawing represents a development of the curved surface of the conical architectural member. It cannot have been actually copied from the relief, for a draftsman wishing to record the different aspects of the capital would have either drawn the figures individually or shown the whole scene as a flat strip. The drawing must thus have been connected with the design of the capital, with its special manner of surface projection corresponding to the requirements of the sculptors carving the relief. However, the drawing, which is relatively well preserved in spite of its large dimensions, cannot have been the actual model, which would have been worn out with intensive use. It seems very likely that the Brussels city council turned to their painter Rogier with a commission to design the capital. He must have prepared the basic design of the scene, and both the model followed by the sculptors and the extant drawing were presumably then copied from that design. Their author would have been an assistant in Rogier's workshop, perhaps one of the painters who participated in work on the panels of scenes from the life of St. Hubert (National Gallery, London), in which the faces of certain figures in the background are strongly reminiscent of the heads of the shoveling men. Perhaps Rogier himself merely sketched out the design and then directed his assistants to prepare a more detailed drawing as a model for the city council who had commissioned it. Or perhaps his design passed into the hands of the council, and he had a copy made by his assistants for the workshop stocks.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Scupstoel Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - graphics : other

63914

Seven Sacraments

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 119 x 63 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp The left wing of the triptych represents the Baptism, the Confirmation and the Confession.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Seven Sacraments (left wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

63936

Seven Sacraments

1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 119 x 63 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp The right wing of the triptych represents the Holy Order, the Matrimony and the Extreme Unction.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Seven Sacraments (right wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious

51148