Rogier Van der Weyden

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Rogier Van der Weyden was a Flemish painter of the mid-15th century. Rogier was chiefly influenced by his first teacher, Robert Campin. Although details of his early training are sketchy, it is generally accepted that he entered the workshop of Robert Campin, the foremost painter in Tournai and dean of the painters' guild, in 1427 at the age of 27 (http://www.belgium.be). Rogier remained in Campin's studio for five years, becoming an independent master of the guild on August 1, 1432. Van der Weyden was not permitted to sell his artwork while studying in Campin’s shop. From Campin, Rogier learned the ponderous, detailed realism that characterizes his earliest paintings, and so alike are the styles of these two masters that critics still do not agree on who painted certain works (http://www.abcgallery.com/W/weyden/weydenbio.html). Despite the fact that no surviving works are signed, many can be identified through documentary evidence, and through these the corpus of his work can be tentatively reconstructed (Encyclopedia of Art and Artists, 691). His early works, before 1430, present scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, as in the Annunciation these paintings closely resemble those of his master Campin but exhibit greater emotional and dramatic intensity than Campin achieved. Rogier's mature works, between 1430 and 1450, show an increasing interest in the theme of Christ's passion. They are characterized by cold colors, by rhythmic elongated lines by the elegant mannered po...

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