EXHIBITION: The heritage of Rogier van der Weyden. Painting in Brussels 1450-1520

This autumn the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium exhibits paintings from Brussels from the period between the death of Rogier van der Weyden (1464) and the activity of Bernard van Orley (1515-1541).

In the late Middle Ages, during this period, Brussels was a thriving town, the Coudenberg Palace was the favourite residence of the dukes of Burgundy and numerous palaces of courtiers and noble families circled it. Like the dukes, the Nassaus, the Ravensteins and others were important patrons of the arts and created a lively market in art and paintings

Building on the results of recent research the exhibition presents an overall picture of painting in Brussels at the late 15th and first years of the 16th centuries, tackling the subject from various viewpoints – historical, iconographic, stylistic, technical, economic and not least organisational. The exhibition is the result of a four-year research programme financed by the Politique Scientifique Fédérale under the presidency of Philippe Mettens.

Questions raised by the curators have been:

• What happened to the famous workshop of Rogier van der Weyden after his death?
• Which other workshops can be detected?
• For which markets did these artists work and how important were they?
• What was the significance of the work of Hugo van der Goos who lived and worked at the Roo Convent near Brussels?
• What was the significance of the mass-production of certain painting?
• What is particular about these “Brussels Masters”?

The core of the exhibition consists of paintings owned by the Rpyal Museum. However other highlights have been borrowed, for instance “Triptych with the miracles of Christ” (1491 – 1495) lent by The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated scientific book that presents the results of the research and contributions by a number of specialists.

The Heritage of Rogier van der Weyden
Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique
rue de la Régence, 3
1000 Bruxelles
12.10.2013  – 26.01.2014

 

READ MORE:

L’héritage de ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN : La peinture à Bruxelles 1450 – 1520
Author: Véronique Bücken and Griet Steyaert
Lannoo N.V., Uitgeverij 2013
ISBN: 9789401414128

The catalogue is only available in French and Dutch