Rogier van der Weyden

Lore & Background

Very few details of Van der Weyden's life are known, coming from fragmentary civic records. Born Rogelet de le Pasture in Tournai to Henri de le Pasture and Agnes de Wattrélos, his father worked as a knife manufacturer. By 21 October 1435, the family had settled in Brussels, where he began using the Flemish version of his name. Little is known about his training; records show a 'Rogelet de le Pasture' entered the workshop of Robert Campin in 1427, though he was already established as a painter. He obtained the title of master painter on 1 August 1432. The close stylistic link between documented works of Jacques Daret and paintings attributed to Campin and Van der Weyden are the main arguments to consider him a pupil of Campin. Van der Weyden worked from life models, often idealising certain facial features, especially in his triptychs. His forms are rendered with rich, warm colourisation and sympathetic expression, known for expressive pathos and naturalism. His portraits tend to be half length and half profile. He used an unusually broad range of colours; in his finest work the same tone is not repeated in any other area of the canvas. According to some sources, in 1449 he went to Italy, and in the holy year 1450 possibly made a pilgrimage to Rome, though his Italian experiences had no influence on his style. The House of Este and the Medici family commissioned paintings from him. He died on 18 June 1464 at Brussels and was buried in St. Catherine's Chapel of the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.

Reader's Guide

Rogier van der Weyden was a highly successful painter in his lifetime, with works exported to Italy and Spain and commissions from Philip the Good, Burgundian nobility, and foreign aristocrats. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity, but his fame lasted only until the 17th century; largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. Today he is known, with Robert Campin and Van Eyck, as the third (by birth date) of the three great Early Netherlandish artists (Vlaamse Primitieven or 'Flemish Primitives'), and widely as the most influential Northern painter of the 15th century. No single work can be attributed with certainty on 15th-century documentary evidence alone, but three well-authenticated paintings are known: The Descent from the Cross (Museo del Prado, Madrid), the Miraflores Altarpiece (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), and the Crucifixion (Escorial Palace). The attribution of paintings now associated to him is widely accepted, primarily on stylistic evidence of an innovative master. His international reputation increased progressively; in the 1450s and 1460s humanist scholars referred to him in superlatives.

Did You Know?

• Van der Weyden's paintings were exported to Italy and Spain during his lifetime.
• He was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century due to changing taste.
• The Descent from the Cross survived a shipwreck and floated, scarcely damaged.
• He served as administrator of the hospital and charitable foundation Ter Kisten of the Beguine convent in Brussels between 1455 and 1457.