| Died on 18 June
1464: Rogier de la Pasture van der Weyden,
Flemish Northern Renaissance painter born in 1399 or 1400. — BIOGRAPHY Extensive coverage with commentaries and links to reproductions, in whole and in many details, of: — Deposition — Saint Luke Madonna — Annunciation Triptych — Miraflores Altarpiece — Seven Sacraments Altarpiece — Crucifixion Altarpiece — Bladelin Triptych — Last Judgment Polyptych — Braque Family Triptych (here) — Saint Columba Altarpiece — Saint John Altarpiece — Other altarpieces — Other Crucifixions — Portraits — Other paintings ^ == Braque Family Triptych (1450) _ The relatively small Braque triptych was intended for private use and was still in the possession of the patron who commissioned it in 1497, when she left it to her grandson in her will. Its exterior shows the coats of arms of Jean Braque and his wife Catherine de Brabant, who had married around 1450. Jean Braque died in June 1452, and since the exterior of the triptych refers to death and mortality, it could have been commissioned shortly after that date by his widow. — Braque Family Triptych (1450, 41x68cm central panel, 41x34cm wings each) — left wing: Saint 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 book. 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. _ detail (upper right corner: landscape): baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. John the Baptist's most significant act is shown in the broad 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. — Central panel: Christ between the Virgin Mary and Saint 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. — Right wing: Saint 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 corset 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. — Braque Family Triptych (closed): The dark exterior was a reminder of the inevitability of death. The left frame bears a saying in French [incomplete and illegible in this reproduction] 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 Book of Ecclesiasticus (Chapter 41, 1-2) and laments the bitterness of death. (O MORS QVAM AMARA EST MEMORIA TUA HOMINI IVSTO ET PACEM HABENTI IN SVBSTANCIIS SVIS VIRO QVIETO ET CVIVS VIE DIRECTE SVNT IN OMNIBVS ET ADHVC VALENTI ACCIPERE CIBVM. EGO XD.) |