| 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 (here) — Bladelin Triptych — Last Judgment Polyptych — Braque Family Triptych — Saint Columba Altarpiece — Saint John Altarpiece — Other altarpieces — Other Crucifixions — Portraits — Other paintings ^ == Crucifixion Altarpiece, (1445) The Crucifixion Triptych, like the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, is impressive in its composition. The two are linked not only by the use of a painted golden frame structure in the picture (not found, or not yet found, in any other surviving works by Rogier), but also in the style of the underdrawing. Both works may have been created at roughly the same time, and the dating of the triptych to around 1445, on dendrochronological evidence, would support that theory. Certainly the designs of both pictures derive from Rogier himself, but his assistants seem to have been involved in the execution, and perhaps did some of the preparatory underdrawing as well. The figures of the triptych are executed to a very high standard. — Crucifixion Triptych (1445, 101x70cm central panel, 101x35cm each wing) _ A rectangular framework design, not linked to the depiction behind it, occurs in this triptych that has a Crucifixion in the middle. As in the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, a unified scene, in this case a landscape, links all three panels, while the center is marked off from the side panels and emphasized. Not only do the gestures of Mary, John, and the grieving angels express strong emotion, so also do the billowing cloak of Saint John and the ends of Christ's loincloth, which swirl ornamentally in the air, though on the whole the work is less emotional than the Abegg Triptych. The donors, a married couple, have approached the Cross; they are shown on the same scale as the saints, though they are not to be seen as really part of the Crucifixion scene - they are present only in thought, in their prayer and meditation, and are thus on a different plane of reality from the other figures. Their relation to the main scene is like that of the Christian believer to the image before which he or she kneels devoutly. The Crucifixion Triptych, like the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, is impressive in its composition. The two are linked not only by the use of a painted golden frame structure in the picture (not found, or not yet found, in any other surviving works by Rogier), but also in the style of the underdrawing. Both works may have been created at roughly the same time, and the dating of the triptych to around 1445, on dendrochronological evidence, would support that theory. Certainly the designs of both pictures derive from Rogier himself, but his assistants seem to have been involved in the execution, and perhaps did some of the preparatory underdrawing as well. The figures of the triptych are executed to a very high standard. However, they seem more abstract and graphic and less three-dimensional than those in the great Deposition (Prado, Madrid), the Madonna in Red (Prado, Madrid), and the Miraflores Altarpiece (Staatliche Museen, Berlin). There is less play of light and shade, and although the landscape is crisscrossed by many rocky crevices and paths, it seems rather empty. Not a single blade of grass enlivens the foreground, and the view into the — left wing 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. — Central panel the Crucifixion Altarpiece. It was a single panel with two narrow side pictures which were later cut. — Right wing: Saint Veronica _ detail Unlike the Veronica on the panel by the Master of Flémalle (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt), the saint here appears as a young woman in the bloom of youth. The type and execution of the face are very like another Mary Magdalene image of about the same date (National Gallery, London). |