WEYDEN, vi'drn, Romisa VAN DER (e.1400 64). A Flemish painter, founder of the school of Brabant. Next to the brothers Van Eyck lie was the most gifted and influential master of the early Flemish school. lle was not a pupil of Jan van Eyck, as was formerly supposed. but rather a rival. although probably influenced by his art. :Modern research has established his identity with Pogelet de In Pasture, who was horn at Tommai in 1399 or 1400, became a pupil of Ilobert Cam pin in 1127. and a master of the Painters' Guild in 1432. In April, 1435, he removed to 14.11.,els, and in the following year the office of painter to the city was created for him. In 1449 lie went to Italy. where he enjoyed the highest reputation and the most distinguished patronage. For the Duke of Florence he painted a triptych, a panel of which probably survives in the tine "Pieta" at. the Uffizi; for Sforza, Duke of Milan. a "Crucifixion" (Brussels Museum), with portraits of the !hike. his wife mid son; and for Cosine) de' Medici it "Madonna, with Patron Saints" (e.1450. Stade! Institute, Frankfort). The great paintings of Italy, however, had no in fluence upon his art. Ile rettinwd to Brussels. where he died :lune 10, 1404, as a member of a religious fraternity.
Rogier van der Weyden's art was as deeply re ligious as his personality. In sentiment it rep resents a reaction against the placid painting of Jan van Eyek, intended for comfortable middle classes, and appeals to the more popular religious tendency of the day. His intense dramatic action sometimes leads to exaggeration, and his draw ing. though always careful, is sometimes de fective. Ills colors are less bright and luminous than Van Eyck's, being rendered with dawn and twilight effects. The heads, with their large
eyes and prominent brows, are wonderfully ex pressive and spiritual. influence was even wider than Van Eyck's. In the Netherlands Hans Memling was his pupil, and lie exercised a formative influence upon Dierieh Bouts and Quentin Massys. The Cologne school of the lat er fifteenth century was dependent upon him; Martin Schougnuer of Colmar was probably his pupil. and even Wolgemut and the Nurembergers felt his influence. Through his designs for reliefs he bad a wide influence upon the sculpture of his day.
To Rogier's earliest. period no paintings can with certainty be ascribed. About 1440 he painted a "Descent from the Cross," now in the Madrid Museum; replica in the sacristy of the Escorial. Of his later achievements the great altar-piece in seven panels of "The Last Judg ment" (1449), in the Hospital at. Beaune (Cate d'Or), France, is one of the most important. Of great originality is the altar-piece representing "The Seven Sacraments," in the Antwerp Mu seum. The Old Pinakothek at Munich possesses an "Adoration of the Magi." which became a model for later painters, and "Saint Luke Paint ing the Madonna." In the Berlin Museum are three altar-pieces. including the celebrated Mid delburg Altar, with the "Adoration of the Holy Child." Consult, the biographies by \Vauters (Brussels, 18561 and Pinehart (ib., 1870) : also Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Early Flemish Painters (London. 18701 : -]Hintz. in Rerue de Part ehn'tien. (1895) : and Firmenieh-Richartz, in Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, vol. x. (Leipzig. 1898-99).