|
''Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin'' is an oil and tempera on oak panel painting attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It shows Luke the Evangelist, patron saint of artists, sketching an apparition of the Virgin Mary as she cradles the Child Jesus. The figures are positioned in a bourgeois interior which leads out towards a courtyard, river, town and expansive landscape. The courtyard contains an enclosed garden, one of the many symbols of Mary's purity. Illustionic carvings of Adam and Eve on the arms of Mary's throne emphasise her son's role in redeeming mankind from original sin. The panel's atmospherics are achieved through the use of chiaroscuro, iconography and symbolic motifs. Van der Weyden probably completed the work between 1435 and 1440, perhaps for the Guild of Saint Luke in Brussels. The original is housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Three near contemporary versions are in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, the Groeningemuseum, Bruges, and the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.〔van Calster (2003), 465〕 The Boston panel is established as the original from underdrawings that are both heavily reworked and absent in the other versions. It is in relatively poor condition having suffered considerable surface damage despite extensive restoration and cleaning since 1932. Rogier was strongly influenced by Jan van Eyck, and the image a close copy of ''Madonna of Chancellor Rolin''.〔van Eyck is credited as the forerunner based on his usual placing as before and influencing Rogier. However a number of art historians have argued that because both were completed c 1934-35, their lineage may be less than straight forward〕 It closely follows van Eyck's composition, especially the arches, elements of the landscape and the colours of the figures' drapery. However van der Weyden makes significant deviations. Luke is depicted as the foremost actor, and his profession as a painter is heavily emphasised. Luke uses silverpoint, a very difficult medium to control 'on the fly', as shown here. Further, van der Weyden has associated himself giving Luke a likeness that is almost certainly a self-portrait.〔Rothstein (2005), 4〕 ''Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin'' was probably donated to the City Painter of Brussels, following his apprenticeship with Robert Campin.〔Ishikawa (1990), 59〕 As the work depicts the patron of artists interacting with a member of the holy family, it may reflect the 15th-century change in the status of painters from craftsmen to artistic creatives.〔Kann, 15〕 ==Commission== According to legend widely disseminated in western Europe by the 10th century, but of Greek origin, Luke the Evangelist, thought to have been a portraitist, painted the first portrait of the Virgin and Child,〔Bauman (1986), 5〕 and until the early Renaissance painters aspired to exactly follow his idealised model. Thus their depictions were relatively static until the end of the Byzantine era of icons. During the Early Renaissance, images of the Virgin and Child were more commonly found in Northern than Italian art; in the Low countries, Luke was often anointed patron of painters' guilds.〔Smith (2004), 16〕 This historical link to the holy family explains the high instance of faithful reproductions of images of this type.〔Harbison (1995), 102〕 St Luke is credited with painting the ''Cambrai Madonna'', a copy of an earlier Byzantine depiction of Virgin and Child, which became a model for devotional works, and an immensely popular work to which "numerous miracles were attributed".〔Ainsworth (1998), 104〕 It was relocated to France from Rome in 1440, and within four years at least 15 high quality copies were in existence.〔 It was regarded as an example of St Luke's skill and contemporary painters strove to emulate him in their depictions of Mary. Popular belief held the essence of the Virgin was captured in Luke's portrait of her.〔Ainsworth (1998), 139〕 Van der Weyden's painting may have been commissioned for the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels, where he is buried,〔"(Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin )". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 27 December 2014〕 or the Brussels' painters' guild.〔 It was probably not designed as a single, stand alone panel, but as a triptych altarpiece.〔Harbison (1995), 10〕 ''St Luke'' celebrates a specific trade, in this case painting,〔Sterling et al, 69〕 and in that aspect is similar to Petrus Christus's ''A Goldsmith in His Shop''.〔Sterling et al, 66〕 By depicting a saint as a fellow practitioner, van der Weyden confers "special status on its practitioners".〔 It is believed to be the oldest extant Netherdandish panel depicting St Luke painting the virgin.〔van Calster (2003), 465〕 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「Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|
