| |  | Rogier van der Weyden |  |
| Weyden, Rogier van der (1399/1400 - 1464) was an Early Flemish painter. His surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. In spite of his contemporary celebrity (by the latter half of the fifteenth-century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity), his reputation later faded, and there is little secure knowledge about his career. There are, in fact, no paintings that can be given to him indisputably on the basis of signatures or contemporary documentation, but several are mentioned in early sources, and the style these show is so distinctive that a coherent oeuvre has been built up around them. Today he is known, with Robert Campin and van Eyck, as the third (by birth date) of the three great Early Flemish artists, and widely as the most influential Northern painter of the 15th century. | |
His early life is still somewhat problematic, however. In 1427 a certain Rogelet de la Pâture entered the workshop of Robert Campin at Tournai and left as Maistre Rogier in 1432. It is generally accepted that this is Rogier van der Weyden (the French and Flemish forms of the name both meaning 'Rogier of the Meadow'), although it is uncertain why he should have started his apprenticeship so late. There are no documented pictures surviving from Campin's hand, but he is generally agreed to be identical with the Master of Flémalle, so the whole question of Rogier's relationship with his master is based on stylistic analysis. Some scholars have assumed that the Master of Flémalle should be identified with the young Rogier rather than with Campin, but the prevailing opinion is now that Rogier's work shows a development from the powerfully naturalistic and expressive style of his master towards greater refinement and spirituality. By 1436 Rogier had moved to Brussels and been appointed official painter to the city. Apart from making a pilgrimage to Rome in 1450, he is never known to have left Brussels again. His work for the city included secular work but all of his surviving paintings are either religious pictures or portraits. He was extremely inventive ichnographically and compositionally, and was a master of depicting human emotion. Unlike Jan van Eyck he seems to have had a large workshop with numerous assistants and pupils, and many of his compositions are known in several versions. His influence was strong and widespread; in his own lifetime his paintings were sent all over Europe, and his emotional and dramatic style found more followers than the quiet perfection of van Eyck. Rogier's portraits, usually serene and aristocratic, were also much imitated, influencing Netherlandish art until the end of the 15th century. |
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|  | | "The Annunciation Triptych" (circa 1440) Oil on oak, 165 x 87 cm - 5' 4.96" x 34¼". Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. | | |
|  |  | "The Annunciation Triptych (central panel)" (circa 1440)
Oil on oak. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. | | |
|  | | "Deposition" (circa 1435) Oil on oak, 262 x 220 cm - 8' 7.15" x 7' 2.61". Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. | | |
|  | | "Deposition (detail)" (circa 1435) Oil on oak. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. | | |
|  | | "Deposition (detail)" (circa 1435) Oil on oak. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. | | |
|  | | "St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna" (1435) Oil and tempera on panel, 110.8 x 137.7 cm - 3' 7.62" x 4' 6.21". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. | | |
|  | | "St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna" (circa 1450) Oil on oak, 110 x 138 cm - 3' 7.31" x 4' 6.33". Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Bavaria, Germany. | | |
|  | | "St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna" Oil on oak, 107 x 133 cm - 3' 6.13" x 4' 4.36". Groeninge Museum, Bruges, Belgium. | | |
|  | | "Miraflores Altarpiece" (circa 1440) Oil on oak, 129 x 71 cm - 4' 2.79" x 27.95". Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. | | |
|  | | "Miraflores Altarpiece (left panel)" (circa 1440) Oil on oak, 43 x 71 cm - 16.93" x 27.95". Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. | | |
|  | | "Miraflores Altarpiece (central panel)" (circa 1440) Oil on oak, 43 x 71 cm - 16.93" x 27.95". Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. | | |
|  | | "Miraflores Altarpiece (right panel)" (circa 1440) Oil on oak, 43 x 71 cm - 16.93" x 27.95". Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. | | |
|  | | "Crucifixion Triptych" (circa 1445) Oil on oak, 140 x 101 cm - 4' 7.12" x 3' 3.76". Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. | | |
|  | | "Portrait of a Woman" (circa 1464) Oil on oak, 27 x 36.5 cm - 10.63 x 14.37 in. National Gallery, London, UK. | | |
|  | | "Dream of Pope Sergius" (1437-40) Oil on oak, 80 x 89 cm - 31.5 x 35 in. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA. | | |
|  | | "Virgin and Child" (circa 1454) Oil on panel, 22.9 x 31.9 cm - 9.02 x 12.56 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA. | | |
|  | | "The Magdalene Reading" (circa 1445) Oil, transferred from wood to mahogany, 55 x 62 cm - 21.65 x 24.41 in. National Gallery, London, UK. | | |
|  | | "Young Man" (1430-40) Silverpoint on prepared paper, 81 x 98 cm - 31.89" x 3' 2.58". Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. |
| Text source: 'Webmuseum' (www.ibiblio.org/wm) & 'Wikipedia' (www.wikipedia.org). |
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