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The ''Beaune Altarpiece'' (c. 1445–50), often called ''The Last Judgement'', is a large polyptych altarpiece by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It was painted in oil on oak panels, with parts later transferred to canvas. It consists of fifteen paintings on nine panels; six of these are painted on both sides. It retains some of its original frames.〔 Six outer panels (or shutters) are hinged, when folded they show an exterior view of saints and the donors. The inner panels contain scenes from the Last Judgement and are arranged across two registers. The large central panel that spans both registers shows Christ seated on a rainbow in judgement, with his feet resting on a golden globe. Below him the Archangel Michael holds scales as he weighs souls. The panel on Christ's far right shows the gates of Heaven, that to his far left the entrance to Hell. The panels of the lower register form a continuous landscape, with figures depicted moving from the central panel to their final destinations after receiving judgement. The altarpiece was commissioned in 1443 for the Hospices de Beaune by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, who is buried in front of the altarpiece's original location in the hospice.〔Campbell (2004), 78〕 It is one of van der Weyden's most ambitious works, equal to his Prado ''Deposition'' and lost ''Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald''.〔Campbell (2004), 26〕 It remains in the hospice today, although not in its original position. It is in poor condition and was moved in the 20th century to shield it from sunlight and better protect it from the almost 300,000 visitors it receives annually.〔 It has suffered from extensive paint loss, the wearing and darkening of its colours, and an accumulation of dirt. In addition, a heavy layer of over-paint was applied during restoration. The two painted sides of the outer panels have been separated so both can be shown simultaneously; traditionally, the shutters would have been opened only on selected Sundays or church holidays. ==Commission and hospice== Nicolas Rolin was appointed Chancellor of Burgundy by Philip the Good in 1422, a position he held for the next 33 years.〔Smith (1981), 276〕 His tenure with the duke made him a wealthy man, and he donated a large portion of his fortune for the foundation of the ''Hôtel-Dieu'' in Beaune.〔Vaughan (2012), 169〕 It is not known why he decided to build in Beaune rather than in his birthplace of Autun. He may have chosen Beaune because it lacked a hospital and an outbreak of the plague decimated the population between 1438 and 1440.〔Blum (1969), 37〕 Furthermore, when in 1435 the Treaty of Arras failed to bring a cessation to the longstanding hostility and animosity between Burgundy and France, the town suffered brutal ravages and famine from ''écorcheurs'' (marauding bands) who roamed the countryside during the late 1430s and early 1440s.〔Vaughan (2012), 94〕 The hospice was built after Rolin gained permission from Pope Eugene IV in 1441,〔 and it was eventually consecrated on 31 December 1452. In conjunction, Rolin established the religious order of "Les sœurs hospitalières de Beaune".〔 Rolin dedicated the hospice to St Anthony Abbot, who was commonly associated with sickness and healing during the Middle Ages.〔Hayum (1977), 508〕 In the hospice's founding charter, signed in August 1443, Rolin wrote that "disregarding all human concerns and in the interest of my salvation, desiring by a favourable trade to exchange for celestial goods temporal ones, that I might from divine goodness render those goods which are perishable for ones which are eternal ... in gratitude for the goods which the Lord, source of all wealth, has heaped upon me, from now on and for always, I found a hospital."〔Smith (2004), 91〕〔Lane (1989), 168〕 In the late 1450s, only a few years before he died, he added a provision to the hospital charter stipulating that the Mass for the Dead be offered twice daily.〔Lane (1989), 169〕 Rolin's wife, Guigone de Salins, played a major role in the foundation, as probably did his nephew Jan Rolin. De Salins lived and served at the hospice until her own death in 1470.〔 Documents regarding the artwork's commissioning survive and, unusually for a Netherlandish altarpiece, the artist, patron, place of installation and date of completion are all known.〔 It was intended as the centrepiece for the chapel,〔 and Rolin approached van der Weyden around 1443, when the hospital was founded. The altarpiece was ready by 1451, the year the chapel was consecrated.〔Lane (1989), 167〕 Painted in van der Weyden's Brussels workshop – most likely with the aid of apprentices – the completed panels were then transported to the hospice.〔Jacobs (1991), 60; Lane (1989), 167〕 The altarpiece is first mentioned in a 1501 inventory, when it was positioned on the high altar.〔Campbell (2004), 74〕 The polyptych was commissioned to provide both comfort and warning to the dying.〔 It was intended to remind them of their faith, and direct their last thoughts towards the divine. This is evident in its positioning in the chapel, within view of the patients' beds.〔 Rolin specified that 30 beds be placed within sight of the altarpiece for those too ill to walk,〔Hayum (1977), 505〕 where it was visible to them through a pierced screen.〔Lane (1989), 177–8〕 There were usually only two patients per bed, luxurious at a time when six to fifteen in a large bed was more common.〔 Medical care was expensive and primitive in the 15th century; the spiritual care of patients was as important as the treatment of physical ailments.〔Lane (1989), 171–72〕 Saints Sebastian and Anthony represent healing. Both were associated with bubonic plague, and intended to reassure the dying as intercessors with the divine.〔Lane (1989), 170〕 St Michael developed a cult following in 15th-century France, most likely because he was thought to have appeared to Joan of Arc. He was seen as a guardian of the dead, a crucial role given the disasters wrought by plague in the region. There was a severe outbreak in 1441–42, just before Rolin founded the hospital. Pilgrimage to Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy reached a peak around this time. According to Barbara Lane, patients were unlikely to survive their stay, yet St Michael offered consolation as they could "gaze on his figure immediately above the altar of the chapel every time the altarpiece was opened. Like Saints Anthony and Sebastian on the exterior of the polyptych, the archangel offered ... hope that they would overcome their physical ills."〔Lane (1989), 180〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Beaune Altarpiece」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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