(1399/1400–1464). “Flemish painter, a student of Robert Campin, known in his day as second only to Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden was born in Tournai in French-speaking Hainaut, but the economic life of the area depended heavily on Flanders rather than France. In the 1430s, rather than seek employment at the Burgundian court, he moved to Brussels as the head of a large workshop. As a guild member, he catered heavily to Germanic circles of patronage, which did not, however, prevent his appreciation of the achievements of the court painter van Eyck. The influence of his predecessor can be detected in early works such as the Annunciation of ca. 1435, now in the Louvre, from his attention to detail in the patterning of the floor and fabrics to the symbolic objects filling the panel with meaning. Simultaneously, van der Weyden began to move beyond van Eyck’s stylistic accomplishments to create a style of his own, as exemplified by his Lamentation (ca. 1435–38) in the Prado.
In a shallow, undefined space, van der Weyden focuses the viewer’s attention upon the monumental figures actively demonstrating their grief. He rejects the disguised symbolism so favored by van Eyck in order to explore more fully the emotive capabilities of composition. Van der Weyden, although not employed directly by the Burgundian court, did produce some works for its most prominent members. An example is his Altarpiece of the Seven Sacraments (ca. 1453–55) in the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts of Antwerp, executed for Jean Chevrot, bishop of Tournai, in which he expanded the Gothic cathedral interior as depicted in van Eyck’s earlier Madonna in the Church. He and van Eyck shared a client in the person of Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Flanders. Van der Weyden also painted a nativity altarpiece (1452–55), now in Berlin, for Pieter Bladelin, who was the chief tax collector in Flanders for Philip the Good.
