WEYDEN, Rogier van der
Netherlandish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1400-1464
major early Flemish master, known also as Roger de la Pasture. He is believed to have studied with Robert Campin. His early works also show the influence of Jan van Eyck. Van Eyck, however, had been a master at objective rendering of detail, whereas Roger in his work portrayed emotions with an assurance that has not been surpassed. His ability to depict piety is reflected in the early masterpiece Descent from the Cross (c.1435; Prado); he depicted with significant restraint the profound grief of the mourners grouped around the tragic figure of Jesus. His composition strongly affected later representations of the theme. Roger became City Painter in Brussels in 1436. He then produced a series of undated altarpieces including the Last Judgment (hospital, Beaune), the Braque Triptych (Louvre), Crucifixion with Donors (Vienna), and Adoration of the Magi (Berlin), which vary in execution from a stress on sumptuous details to a more sculptural rendering of the figures. Roger is believed to have made a pilgrimage to Italy in the holy year 1450. Whether this supposed excursion had any effect on his style is much debated. It has been shown that his Entombment (Uffizi) bears an affinity to the Tuscan treatment of the subject, particularly by Fra Angelico, and that Roger's Virgin and Child with Saints (Frankfurt) has a strong resemblance to the Italian religious art of the day. His style is, however, highly individual. His religious paintings and his portraits are characterized by a straightforward monumentality. The portraits, such as that of a young lady (National Gall. of Art, Washington, D.C.) and of Francesco d'Este (Metropolitan Mus.) exhibit a simple clarity of contour and psychological penetration. Other notable works are his St. Luke Painting the Virgin, of which a version or replica is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Crucifixion
ID: 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
