This drawing from the artist’s circle testifies to his immense influence on artistic production in the Southern Netherlands.
The drawing, made with brush, brown ink and charcoal, depicts the swooning of the Blessed Virgin. She is supported by John and the two Marys complete the scene. The same motif is found in Rogier van der Weyden’s Triptych of the Seven Sacraments, part of the KMSKA collection and on loan to M between 2009 and 2022. The poses of the pensive Virgin and John, the facial expressions and the draped garments are rendered in an almost identical fashion.
M’s collection contains other works from the circle of Rogier van der Weyden. The Holy Trinity (c. 1430) from the studio of Van der Weyden, for example, is currently on loan to the Snijders&Rockoxhuis in Antwerp. There is also the Nobleman’s Triptych (1443), kept in St Peter’s Church. This work is the earliest known copy of Rogier van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross (c. 1435), which was created for the Chapel of Our Lady Without the Walls and is now part of the Prado collection in Madrid.
In 2009, M Leuven organised the retrospective exhibition Rogier van der Weyden. The Master of Passions.
Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399/1400-1464) was born in Tournai. He began working in the studio of Robert Campin in 1427. By 1435, Rogier was living in Brussels; his studio was on the Cantersteen. He was appointed official city painter in Brussels, a post he held until his death. Van der Weyden, together with Jan van Eyck, quickly became one of the most important Southern Netherlandish painters of the 15th century. The controlled emotion of the figures in his paintings greatly influenced the visual arts and subsequent generations of artists.
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