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: 63930 Bladelin Triptych 1445-50 Oil on oak panel, 91 x 40 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin The scenes in the side panels depict the advent of the Son of God on earth being announced in miraculous visions to the Roman emperor Octavian (Augustus) and to the three Magi. The Christ Child receives the homage of both East and West, that is to say the whole world as displayed in the panorama of the open triptych: the West is symbolized by the Roman empire - which was regarded as the direct predecessor of the medieval Holy Roman Empire - the East by the Magi, and between them stands the Holy Land with Bethlehem, to the medieval mind the centre and navel of the world. The three pictures in the triptych are united not so much by their background setting as by the figures. These are all on the same scale, and are linked to create a compositional line running through the three panels: arranged on both wings in a semi-circle turning in, and on the central panel in a semi-circle turning out, they curve rhythmically in an undulating line - a good example of Rogier's "sense of rhythm." The panels are also linked by the skillful distribution of colour, with the red robe of the oldest king on the right, for instance, echoing the red garments of St. Joseph on the central panel, while the red-patterned gold brocade worn by the central king is matched by Octavian's robe on the opposite wing. These mirror-image correspondences are slightly shifted toward the central axis, and there are many other interrelating colour notes. However, the colour also has other meanings. On the wings, where it is distributed in smaller areas over the surface of the picture and is thus more varied, it illustrates the secular magnificence of earthly rulers, while on the central panel the symphony of red, white and black makes a nobler and sterner effect. Symbolically, white stands for Mary's virginity, while the black worn by the donor was the fashionable colour of the upper classes of the time. The colour composition of the altarpiece as a whole, constantly balancing its slight asymmetries, is well calculated, although ultimately the impression is of rather too regular a kind of diversity, without deep meaning or resonance.Artist:WEYDEN, Rogier van der Title: Bladelin Triptych (right wing) Painted in 1401-1450 , Flemish - - painting : religious
