| 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 (here) — Annunciation Triptych — Miraflores Altarpiece — Seven Sacraments Altarpiece — Crucifixion Altarpiece — Bladelin Triptych — Last Judgment Polyptych — Braque Family Triptych — Saint Columba Altarpiece — Saint John Altarpiece — Other altarpieces — Other Crucifixions — Portraits — Other paintings ^ == “Saint Luke Madonna” (1435-40) _ Rogier created this great work, full name Saint Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Virgin, during his early period in Brussels, roughly between the middle of the 1430s and the beginning of the 1440s. According to tradition, Saint Luke the Evangelist was also the first Christian painter, and had painted the Virgin Mary from life. He was the patron saint of painters, and in many towns and cities was regarded as patron of their guilds. Most of the major pictures of Saint Luke were destined for the altars of these communities; Rogier's painting was probably an altarpiece for the Brussels guild. There exist several examples of this composition, identical apart from a few details. — Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child (1435, 138x111cm) _ Van der Weyden made at least three full-size copies of this, the original version, evidence of the high regard in which the composition was held in its own time. Saint Luke reverently makes a preliminary drawing. Among the meticulously rendered, real-world details, the enclosed garden beyond the room symbolizes the Virgin’s purity, the couple gazing out at a river and a Flemish town may represent the Virgin’s parents, and tiny carvings of Adam and Eve on Mary’s throne allude to Christ and his mother as the new Adam and Eve, come to redeem mankind from original sin. _ Saint Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (1435, 138x118cm) ***Museum of Fine Arts, Boston*** _ This work shares the solidity and monumentality of its figures with the Deposition, but differs from it in a striking atmospheric effect of chiaroscuro, a quality typical of the art of Jan van Eyck. In fact here Rogier is referring directly to a painting by Jan van Eyck, the Madonna commissioned by the Burgundian chancellor Nicolas Rolin, known as the The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (1435). As well as the ideas about the atmospheric use of light and shade that Rogier derived from this picture, he also adopted its overall construction and many motifs from Jan van Eyck's painting, including the colors of the garments worn by the main figures. They are arranged in the picture as in the van Eyck model, except that the Virgin and her companion have changed sides. These similarities of color and light show that Rogier must have seen the original version of the Rolin Madonna, and he can have done so only in Jan van Eyck's studio in Bruges before Chancellor Rolin collected the picture, which was for his private enjoyment only and so was not accessible to the public thereafter. The meeting in Bruges between the two men who were by now the greatest and most famous painters north of the Alps - perhaps they were already acquainted - cannot have taken place very long after 1435, and may well have been accompanied by a lively exchange of ideas. At any rate, Rogier as town painter of Brussels not only profited by his knowledge of the Rolin Madonna, he also obviously came away from Jan van Eyck with new ideas and sketches of other motifs, soon to be used in his own workshop. In spite of the inspiration Rogier had gained from Jan van Eyck, his Saint Luke Madonna is has originality, and was to establish a new tradition. In a departure from earlier paintings of the subject, Rogier's saint is not himself painting the Mother of God but recording the silverpoint drawing. This corresponds to the practice of contemporary portraiture, and also emphasizes the spiritual significance of the picture more than the long, craftsmanlike activity involved in painting itself. By comparison with other works by Rogier, the extremely picturesque qualities of the chiaroscuro in the Saint Luke Madonna are particularly marked. Perhaps the artist, impressed by this effect in the pictures of Jan van Eyck, used it here because the painting not only honored the saint but also stood for the painter's craft. In addition, Rogier was demonstrating another modern artistic achievement, and thus - whether in homage or in a spirit of rivalry - was referring explicitly to the other famous Flemish painter of his time. On the whole, however, he interpreted his model very much in his own way: where Jan's figures are embedded in a world of light and shade, Rogier's figures clearly claim more attention than the rest of the picture. The landscape in the Rolin Madonna seems to stretch backward for ever, suggesting in its countless details the whole teeming fullness of the world. In Rogier's picture it goes no further than its immediately visible part, and is cut off by architectural features at the sides; similarly the inner room, open to the elements in Jan's painting, has acquired a ceiling in Rogier's painting. The small town in the background is animated by little figures (including a man urinating outside the town walls) but it is possible to count them all - what is a whole universe in Jan's painting here becomes a comparatively flat background for the figures, one that can be completely surveyed. In those figures themselves, however, Rogier shows himself far superior to Jan van Eyck as an innovator. His Virgin is the quintessence of tender maternal love, simultaneously humble and proud; she is presented to the observer in such a way that (unlike Jan's Madonna) she is effective even without the context of the picture, and may be seen as typical of representations of the Virgin by herself. Instead of the masses of folds in Jan's painting, her garment in Rogier's version of the scene forms attractive calligraphic patterns. Saint Luke is not kneeling motionless before her, absorbed in his work, but is approaching gently like the angel of the Annunciation. Although he is seen in the act of kneeling, it does not jar on the viewer that he could hardly execute a portrait sketch in that attitude, since his activity is not emphasized for its own sake. Instead, his mobile, sensitive hands express both veneration of the Virgin and the intellectual aspect of portraiture. The saint is deliberately captured in a state between movement and repose, which could be the reason why, by comparison with those in the Rolin Madonna, the figures have changed sides: the direction of the saint's movement runs counter to the usual way of "reading" a picture (from left to right) and is thus inhibited - if Saint Luke were seen approaching from the left his movement would appear too emphatic. _ detail The evangelist (whose features resembles Rogier's) is shown making a silverpoint drawing of the Virgin Mary. His attentive gaze is concentrated on his model, indicating both his artistic purpose and also his veneration for the Mother of God. This detail shows some severe damage to the surface of the painting, of the kind suffered by many Early Netherlandish paintings over the centuries. |
| — Saint
Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (102x108cm, The Hermitage, Saint
Petersburg) A sixth-century legend presents Luke as the painter of a number
of icons of the Virgin. He is therefore given the status of the painter
"par excellence", able to capture even the Virgin on canvas. Luke has been
the patron of various painters' guilds since the fifteenth century. Some
scholars assume that the face of Luke is a self-portrait of the artist.
There are a few versions of this painting the most significant being in
Boston and Munich. _ Detail 1 - Oil on canvas transferred from wood The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg According to legend, Saint Luke the Evangelist was also the first Christian painter, and had painted the Virgin Mary from life. As a consequence he was the patron saint of painters, and in many towns and cities was regarded as patron of their guilds. As a result, most of the major pictures of Saint Luke were destined for the altars of these communities; Rogier's painting was probably an altarpiece for the Brussels guild. The depiction of the saintly artist was of course also likely to be a self portrait of the contemporary painter, particularly when the panel was for so prominent a place as the altar of the guild. It expresses the artist's sense of his professional and personal dignity, and it is no coincidence that Rogier's Saint Luke resembles those portraits of the painter himself that have come down to us, though with idealized features. _ Detail 2 (center of detail 1) Some scholars assume that the face of Luke is a self-portrait of the artist. _ detail 3 - The small town in the background is animated by little figures (including a man urinating outside the town walls) but it is possible to count them all - what is a whole universe in Jan van Eyck's Rolin Madonna here becomes a comparatively flat background for the figures, one that can be completely surveyed. — Saint Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna (1450, 138 x 110 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich) This painting is closely based on Jan van Eyck's Madonna with Chancellor Rolin. Van der Weyden uses the same cubic space as Van Eyck, with an opening supported by two columns through which the main scene opens out onto a landscape in the background. There exist three other examples of this composition, identical apart from a few details, of which the one in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, since its restoration in 1932-33, is regarded by most art historians as the original (other examples in Saint Petersburg, Hermitage, and Bruges, Groeningemuseum). _ detail The small town in the background is animated by little figures (including a man urinating outside the town walls) but it is possible to count them all - what is a whole universe in Jan van Eyck's Rolin Madonna here becomes a comparatively flat background for the figures, one that can be completely surveyed. — Saint Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna (133x107cm) _ The figures are seen in a vaulted portico opening onto an inner garden. The space is situated in a fortress raised above earthly life, the city below and the river landscape. Seated on the step of a wooden throne, over which a canopy is hung, the Virgin is suckling the Child. Saint Luke sits in front of her. With one knee resting on a cushion, he is drawing her portrait with a silver point on a sheet of paper or parchment supported by a small plank. The Virgin's head and features have already been worked out. The drawing is intended as a preparatory sketch, which causes the theme to be interpreted as taking place in real time, as well as emphasizing the artist's ability to record the divine, and thus, as it were, to prove its existence. The activity depicted in the painting probably reflects accurately the way in which, in the fifteenth century, a painted portrait was prepared by means of a preliminary drawing (the best-known example is Van Eyck's drawing with the portrait of Cardinal Albergati). In the adjacent room behind Saint Luke lies an open book, probably an allusion to his gospel, and the ox, his emblem. It remains unclear why the scroll is not inscribed with his name. The low position of the Virgin, seated in front of her throne, corresponds to the type of the Virgin of Humility, a motif derived from Saint Luke's Gospel. On the arm of the throne the Fall of Man is depicted, which is connected with the role of Jesus and Mary as the new Adam and Eve. The two small figures looking over the crenelated wall are sometimes linked with Joachim and Anna, Mary's parents. In the background on the left is a wooden corner-house with a signboard consisting of a stick on which copper dishes are hanging. More of these can also be seen in the display-window. This same house often appears in the work of Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle and it has been erroneously taken for a shop of painters' materials. In fact it concerns a surgeon's house. The pans were used during bloodletting. In the context of this painting the connection with the figure of Saint Luke, who was also a doctor, is not imaginary. His clothing too, with the exception of the evangelist's inkpot hanging from his belt, is in fact that of a doctor. Saint Luke as the portrait painter of the Virgin was originally probably intended to be symbolical, because his gospel deals with the Virgin Mary in the greatest detail. In his capacity as an artist, he came to be the patron saint of the painters' guilds from the fourteenth century onwards. The composition is the oldest preserved example of a Saint Luke painting the portrait of an actually present Mother of God. There exist three other examples of this composition, identical apart from a few details, of which the one in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, since its restoration in 1932-33, is regarded by most art historians as the original (other examples in Munich, Alte Pinakothek, and Saint Petersburg, Hermitage). The attribution to Rogier van der Weyden was made on stylistic grounds and has never been contested. The date, on account of the still strong link with the Master of Flémalle (emphasis on materiality and volume, rounded, broad, rolling drapery) and the resemblance to Jan van Eyck's Virgin of Chancellor Rolin, has been situated in his early period (1435-36). To judge by the technique the examples of Bruges, Munich and Saint Petersburg were only made towards the end of the fifteenth or even in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Although they are very faithful copies, they appear on comparison each to have a style of its own with occasionally a remarkable kinship with well-known Brussels painters such as the Magdalene Master (Saint Petersburg) and of the Master of the Embroidered Foliage (Munich). The Bruges version is more difficult to situate. It seems to be of higher quality than the copies of Munich and Saint Petersburg, and is certainly the best preserved. The composition was enormously popular in the second half of the fifteenth century, when the abundant production of half-length Virgins started to undergo its morphological influence. It gave rise to a host of pastiche-like borrowings of loose elements. Hans Memling was inspired by the architectural setting and the background of Rogier's painting when creating his Virgin Enthroned of Kansas City. |
