Rogier van der Weyden

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Descent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden (c.1435) Oil on oak panel, 220 x 262 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid

Rogier van der Weyden (Dutch pronunciation: [ʀoˈʝiːʀ vɑndəʀˈβ̞ɛˑɪ̯dən]) or Rogier de le Pasture (1399/1400 – June 18, 1464) is, with Jan van Eyck, considered one of the greatest exponents of the school of the Early Netherlandish painting (The Flemish Primitives).

Contents

[edit] Life and family

Rogier van der Weyden was born in Tournai as 'Rogier de le Pasture' (Roger of the Pasture) in 1399 or 1400. His parents were Henri de le Pasture and Agnes de Watrélos. The family had settled before in the city of Tournai where Rogiers father worked as a 'maître-coutelier' (knife manufacturer). In 1426 Rogier married Elisabeth, the daughter of the Brussels shoemaker Jan Goffaert and his wife Cathelyne van Stockem. Rogier and Elisabeth had four children: Cornelius, who became a Carthusian monk, was born in 1427, a daughter Margaretha in 1432. Before 21 October 1435 the family settled in Brussels where the two younger children were born: Pieter in 1437 and Jan the next year. From the second of March 1436 onwards held the title of 'painter to the town of Brussels' (stadsschilder) a very prestigious post because Brussels was at that time the most important residence of the splendid court of the Dukes of Burgundy. It was at the occasion of his move to the Dutch-speaking town of Brussels that Rogier began using the Dutch version of his name: 'Rogier van der Weyden'.

[edit] Training as a painter

Self-portrait as Saint Luke making a drawing for his painting of the Virgin. The setting is derived from the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck. Boston, c. 1440.

Little is known about Rogier's training as a painter. The archival sources from Tournai (completely destroyed during World War II, but luckily partly transcribed in the 19th and early 20th century) are somewhat confusing and have led to different interpretations by scholars. From a document it is known that the city council of Tournai offered wine in honour of a certain 'Maistre Rogier de le Pasture' on March the 17th 1427. However, on the 5th of March of the following year the records of the painters' guild show a certain 'Rogelet de le Pasture' entered the workshop of Robert Campin together with Jacques Daret. Only five years later, on the first of August 1432, Rogier de le Pasture obtains the title of 'Master' (Maistre) as a painter.[1] Many have doubted whether Campin's apprentice 'Rogelet' was the same as the master 'Rogier' that was offered the wine back in 1426. The fact that in 1426-1427 Rogier was a married man in his late twenties, and well over the normal age of apprenticeship has been used as an argument to consider 'Rogelet' as a younger painter with the same name. In the 1420's however the city of Tournai was in crisis and as a result the guilds were not functioning normally. The late apprenticeship of Rogier/Rogelet may have been a legal formality. Also Jacques Daret was then in his twenties and had been living and working in Campin's household for at least a decade.

It is possible that Rogier obtained an academic title (Master) before he became a painter and that he was awarded the wine of honour on the occasion of his graduation. The sophisticated and 'learned' iconographical and compositional qualities of the paintings attributed to him are sometimes used as an argument in favour of this supposition. The social and intellectual status of Rogier in his later life surpassed that of a mere craftsman at that time. In general the close stylistical link between the documented works of Jacques Daret, and the paintings attributed to Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden is considered as the main argument to consider Rogier van der Weyden as a pupil of Robert Campin.

Detail of Roger van der Weyden's The Seven Sacraments (1445).

[edit] City painter of Brussels

The last mention of Rogier de la Pasture in the financial records of Tournai, on October 21, 1435, lists him as demeurrant à Brouxielles ('living in Brussels'). At the same time, the first mention of Rogier de Weyden is made as the official painter of Brussels. Therefore Rogier de la Pasture and Rogier Van der Weyden are thought to be one and the same painter. The post of city painter was created especially for Van der Weyden and was meant to lapse on his death. It was linked to a huge commission to paint four justice scenes for the 'Golden Chamber' of Brussels City Hall.[2] Different properties and investments are documented and witness his material prosperity. The portraits he painted of the Burgundian Dukes, their relatives and courtiers, demonstrate a close relationship with the elite of the Netherlands.

The Miraflores Altarpiece was probably commissioned by King Juan II of Castile, since Juan II donated it to the monastery of Miraflores in 1445. In the holy year 1450 Rogier quite possibly made a pilgrimage to Rome which brought him in contact with Italian artists and patrons. The Este and Medici family commissioned paintings from him. The Duchess of Milan, Bianca Maria Visconti, sent her court painter Zanetto Bugatto to Brussels to become an apprentice in Rogier's workshop. Rogier's international reputation had increased progressively. In the 1450s and 1460s scholars such as Cusanus, Filarete and Facius referred to him in superlatives: 'the greatest', 'the most noble' of painters. Van der Weyden died on June 18, 1464, and was buried in the Chapel of St Catherine in the Cathedral of St Gudulphe.[3]

[edit] Works

No single work can be attributed with certainty to Rogier van der Weyden, on the basis of 15th century documentary evidence. But Lorne Campbell has stated that three well-authenticated paintings are known, but, at various times, each has been doubted or underestimated.[4] The best documented is the Deposition in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Campbell points out that this painting's history can be reconstructed in some detail from 16th century and later records. The 'Triptych of the Virgin' or 'Miraflores altarpiece', now in Berlin, was given in 1445 to the Charterhouse of Miraflores near Burgos by John II of Castile; it was described in the deed of gift as the work of great and famous Flandresco Rogel. The 'Crucifixion', now in the Escorial Palace, was given by Rogier himself to the Charterhouse of Scheut outside Brussels.[4] In his catalogue raisonné of Van der Weyden's work, the Belgian art historian Dirk de Vos agrees with Campbell about the authenticity of these three paintings.[5]

The fragment of 'The Magdalen Reading' in the National Gallery (London) has been described by Campbell as "one of the great masterpieces of fifteenth-century art and among Rogier's most important early works".[6] Since the 1970s, this painting has been linked to two small heads in the collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon), of Saint Catherine and of St Joseph. It is now widely believed that these three fragments came from the same large altarpiece depicting the 'Virgin and Child with Saints', partly recorded in a later drawing now in Stockholm. At some unknown date before 1811, this altarpiece was carved up into these three fragments.[7][8]

Rogier's most famous paintings, which survived until the seventeenth century, were four large panels representing 'Justice of Trajan' and the 'Justice of Herkenbald'. These were commissioned by the City of Brussels for the 'Gulden Camere' (Golden Chamber) of the Brussels Town Hall. The first and third panels were signed, and the first dated 1439. All four were finished before 1450. They were destroyed in the French Bombardment of Brussels in 1695, but are known from many old descriptions, from a free partial copy in tapestry (Bern, Historisches Museum) and from other free and partial copies in drawing and painting. The paintings probably measured ca. 4,5 m. each, which was an enormous scale for a painting on panel at that time. They served as 'examples of justice' for the aldermen of the city who had to speak justice in this room. The paintings were praised or described by a series of commentators until their destruction, including Dürer (1520), Vasari (1568), Molanus (c.1570-1580), and Baldinucci (1688).[9] The paintings made a strong emotional impact on the spectator. As can be seen in existing paintings attributed to him, Rogier van der Weyden was a master in the depiction of emotions and grief.

St Ivo (c. 1450) Oil on oak panel, 45 x 35 cm National Gallery, London

[edit] Influence

His vigorous, subtle, expressive painting and popular religious conceptions had considerable influence on European painting, not only in France and Germany but also in Italy and in Spain. Hans Memling was his greatest follower, although it is not proven that he was a direct pupil of Rogier. Van der Weyden had also great influence on the German painter and engraver Martin Schongauer whose prints were distributed all over Europe since the last decades of the 15th century. Indirectly Schongauer's prints helped to disseminate Van der Weyden's style.

[edit] List of works

The most important paintings attributed to Rogier:

Most of the works consists of more than one panel; mostly they are triptychs, diptychs or polyptychs. Some of them are dismembered and the parts are kept in different museums. Some panels are only fragmentary remains of lost masterpieces. This list features the paintings accepted as authentic by Dirk de Vos (see references below). They are listed chronologically following the datings of De Vos. All works are executed in oil on oak panels except if mentioned otherwise.

ca. 1425-1430:

ca. 1430-1432:

  • Diptych with the Virgin and Child Standing in a Niche, and Saint Catherine in a landscape, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. nr. 951 and 955. Both ca. 19 x 12 cm.

ca. 1430-1435:

  • Descent from the Cross, Madrid, Museo del Prado, inv. nr. 2825. 220 x 259 cm.
  • Virgin and Child in a Niche, the so called Durán Madonna, Madrid, Museo del Prado, inv. nr. 2722. 100 x 52 cm.
  • Portrait of a Woman, (sometimes considered as the portrait of van der Weyden's wife Elisabeth Goffaert), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. nr. 545 D. 47 x 32 cm.
  • Triptych with an Annunciation Center panel with the Annunciation in Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. nr. 1982. 87 x 91 cm., Wings with the Visitation and a 'clergyman kneeled in prayer' in Turin, Galleria Sabauda, inv. nr. 210 and 320. Both 89 x 36,5 cm.

ca. 1435-1440:

ca. 1440-1445:

ca. 1445-1450:

  • Triptych with the Birth of Christ, so called Bladelin Triptych[1], Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. nr. 535. Center panel: 94 X 92 cm, Wings each: 94 x 42 cm.
  • Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good, dedication miniature from the 'Chroniques de Hainaut', Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, ms. 9242, fol.1, paint on parchment, 15,4 x 20 cm (illustration), 42,3 x 28,8 (leaf). Apparently Rogier's only surviving miniature.
  • Polyptych with the Last Judgement, so called: Beaune Altarpiece, Beaune, Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune, originally oil on oak panels, today some panels are transferred to canvas. The polyptych consists of 15 different parts. The large center part measures 210 x 100 cm, the small upper wings measure 72 x 45 cm. Opened the polyptych measures 210 x 548 cm.

ca. 1445-1455:

  • Saint Margareth and Saint Apollonia, Right wing of a lost triptych, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. nr. 534C. 51,5 x 27,5 cm.

ca. 1450-1455:

  • Triptych of Jean Braque, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. nr. RF 2063. Center panel: 34 x 62 cm, wings each 34 x 27 cm.
  • Portrait of a man, Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, inv. nr. 1930.26. 32 x 23 cm.
  • Triptych with the Adoration of the Magi, so-called Columba Altarpiece, Munich, Alte Pinakothek, inv. nr. WAF 1189-1191. Center panel: ca. 140 x 153, Wings each: ca. 140 x 73 cm.
  • Triptych with scenes from the life of John the Baptist, so called Saint Johns Altarpiece, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. nr. 534B. Each panel ca. 77 X 48 cm.
  • The crucified Christ between the mourning Mary and Saint John, so called Crucifixion of Scheut, El Escorial, inv. nr. 10014602. 325 x 192 cm.

ca. 1455-1464:

ca. 1455-1460:

ca. 1460:

ca. 1461-1462:

ca. 1460-1464:

  • Virgin and Child with four Saints, the so called Medici Madonna, painted for the Medici Family in Florence, Städel, Frankfurt, inv. nr. 850. 51 x 38 cm.

ca. 1463-1464:

Works rejected by De Vos:

Copies after Van der Weyden:

A 15th century copy after the Madrid Descent from the Cross by an anonymous master (the so-called Edelheer-triptych) is preserved in the Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven, Belgium.

[edit] Gallery

Detail, Adoration of the Magi

Adoration of the Magi

Braque Family Triptych, outside wings closed

Braque Family Triptych left panel

Braque Family Triptych right panel

Chroniques de Hainault miniature

Pierre Bladelin Triptych central panel

Polyptych with the Nativity, Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of a woman

Philip the Good

Isabella of Portugal

Charles the Bold

Antoine, bastard of Burgundy

Francesco d'Este

The Last Judgement

Philippe I de Croÿ

[edit] Exhibitions

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Dirk de Vos, 1999, Rogier van der Weyden, p. 51
  2. ^ Dirk de Vos, 1999, Rogier van der Weyden, p. 53
  3. ^ Dirk de Vos, 1999, Rogier van der Weyden, p. 63
  4. ^ a b Lorne Campbell, "The New Pictorial Language of Rogier van der Weyden", in Rogier van der Weyden, Master of Passions, ed. Campbell & Van der Stock, 2009, pp.32-64
  5. ^ Dirk de Vos, 1999, Rogier van der Weyden, p. 232, p. 291
  6. ^ Campbell, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, National Gallery, London, 1998, p. 405.
  7. ^ Campbell, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, National Gallery, London, 1998, pp. 394, 398.
  8. ^ "Bust of 'St Catherine'; Bust of 'St Joseph'". Museu Gulbenkian. 2009-04-19. http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/obra.asp?num=79ab&nuc=a9&lang=en. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  9. ^ Dirk de Vos, 1999, Rogier van der Weyden, pp. 58-60
  10. ^ Recent research by Ron Spronk proved that the two panels indeed formed a diptych together. The temporarily rejoined diptych was displayed in the loan exhibition 'Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych' at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen in Antwerp in Fall 2006/Spring 2007.
  11. ^ "Rogier van der Weyden: Master of Passions". rogiervanderweyden.com. 2009-09-20. http://www.rogiervanderweyden.be/en/4. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 

[edit] References

  • Campbell, Lorne, Van der Weyden, London: Chaucer Press (2004) ISBN 1-904449-24-7
  • Campbell, Lorne, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, London: National Gallery Publications (1998) ISBN 1-85709-171-X
  • Campbell, Lorne & Van der Stock, Jan, Rogier van der Weyden: 1400-1464. Master of Passions, ISBN 978-90-8526-105-6, Davidsfonds, Leuven, 2009.
  • de Vos, Dirk. Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works ISBN 0-8109-6390-6, Harry N Abrams, 2000
  • Kemperdick, Stephan Rogier van der Weyden (Masters of Dutch Art), ISBN 3-8290-2571-8, Könemann, 2000.
  • Dhanens, Elisabeth, Rogier van der Weyden. Revisie van de documenten, Royal Academy of Belgium, Brussels, 1995.
  • Davies, Martin, Rogier van der Weyden: An Essay with a Critical Catalogue of Paintings Assigned to him and to Robert Campin, London: Phaidon, 1972. ISBN 0714815160
  • De Vos, Dirk. The Flemish Primitives. Europe: Amsterdam University Press, 2002.
  • Dillenberger, Jane. Style and Content in Christian Art. 2nd Ed. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1986.
  • Marzio, Peter C. A Permanent Legacy: 150 works from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. 1st Ed. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989.
  • Snyder, James. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, The Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. and Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.

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