Rogier Van Der Weyden’s, The Visitation

Roger Van Der Weyden’s, The Visitation, explores the story of Mary’s visit with her cousin Elizabeth. Today we will be focusing on a small panel painting of the Visitation, and then taking a look at a Nativity by Van Der Weyden’s workshop which has another version of the Visitation.

Who was Rogier Van Der Weyden?

First, a little background on Roger Van Der Weyden. He is a Netherlandish painter who was from Tournai, France, but spent most of his artistic life in Brussels. We know that he was a highly successful artist who was internationally famous during his lifetime.

He, Robert Campin, and Jan Van Eyck are considered the three greatest Flemish painters of the Northern Renaissance. He held the title, Painter to the Town of Brussels. As Brussels was where the resplendent court of the Duke of Burgundy was. This was quite prestigious.

His early training is a bit fuzzy, as the records were destroyed during  World War 2. It is believed that he trained under Robert Campin (the artist who produced the Merode Altarpiece) in Tournai.  Civil records let us know when he became a Master, he was generous,  served on the boards of charities and worked on behalf of his guild.

Difficulties Determining Which Paintings Are His

We know of commissions Van Der Weyden’s workshop received, payments and various details of those commissions, yet with all that we do know, we are less sure about which paintings are his.

Van Der Weyden never signed his works. He worked in other artists workshops before becoming a master, and then when he was made a Master he had a large workshop of his own. So, while we know that he received a commission for a work, we cannot know for certain that he is the one who painted it.

During the 19th century in particular, his works were attributed to others. In recent years Art Historians have struggled to piece together his body of work. Combing through records, comparing brushstrokes and developments, even analyzing the wood used,  all they can do is come up with best guesses, some they are more sure of than others.

Art Historians are fairly sure that this single panel was done by Van Der Weyden. The full altarpiece that we will look at toward the end of this article has been attributed to his workshop, but how much, if any of it, he painted himself is unclear.

The Visitation

This piece is called The Visitation. It is a narrative work that tells the story of the Virgin Mary visiting her Cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was elderly and childless, but miraculously conceives.  She is carrying John the Baptist. Mary, miraculously pregnant with Jesus, comes to spend time with Elizabeth. I’m sure it was a relief for her to be with a relative who had also experienced a miraculous pregnancy.

In the painting we see the moment of greeting between the two women. From the road in the background we know that Mary has traveled a great distance to visit. We also can see the road from Elizabeth’s home, so we know that she rushed down to greet Mary. Both women know that the babies they carry have destinies to fulfill. (On a side note, as I always found it odd, the fashion was to have high foreheads, women even shaved their hair back to get the desired higher forehead.)

We assume from the painting that this is the moment in the Biblical narrative when Elizabeth exclaimed to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” 

In the placement of the hands, each on the other’s womb, with Elizabeth’s in the forefront of the painting, we know that Mary’s child will be the more important one. Mary’s robes are blue signifying divinity and that she carries God within her. Elizabeth’s dress contrasts beautifully in it’s shade of red, which signifies humanity. We can see the age in Elizabeth’s face, so we know that she is advanced in years past the time she should be able to conceive.

Aerial Perspective

In this painting we have aerial as well as linear perspective. Aerial perspective means that distance is shown using changes in color. The mountains in the farthest parts of the background are faded and blue. The further back into the distance a painter goes the more he will blur the image, and change the realistic colors for something more monochromatic, in the blue range.

Northern Renaissance Style

This painting marks many of the advances and distinctives of Northern Renaissance Art.

First there is a clear foreground, middle ground, and back ground, adding realism. In the North, artists paid a great deal of attention to the small details they included in the middle and background.  Note the tiny figures and farms that are fully developed in the background.

The landscapes in particular are a mark of the northern Renaissance. Northern artists will be responsible for making landscape painting a genre that stands on it’s own, and they took great care to realistically represent farm, forest, and sea landscapes.

Also note the angular folds of the dresses the women wear. The more angular folds are another ‘tell’ of the Northern Renaissance. Some believe that the crisp light of northern climates caused artists to see, and therefore paint, the drapery of fabric in this particular way.

Zechariah

In the middle ground in front of Elizabeth’s house we have the charming detail of Zechariah, her husband, playing with their dog. Despite their size, this element is it’s own completed work. As we look in the middle ground on the opposite side, we have a detailed landscape with water, birds, people, and another house. These could be miniature paintings in their own right.

The Nativity Altarpiece

This painting was completed as a single panel, but was redone with a bit of cropping and included on an altarpiece that had the story of the Nativity as it’s theme. You can find the painting on the left panel in the reproduction above. I found one detail of this altarpiece fascinating.

Annunciation is the word used when an angel arrives to give someone a message. So we have the Angel Gabriel making an Annunciation to Mary that she would have a child. When the angel appears to the shepherds to tell them the Christ has been born, that is the annunciation to the Shepherds. The Bible has many annunciation stories.

This altarpiece has two annunciations, one of which is only recorded in extra-Biblical records. On either side of the nativity, are annunciations to kings. On the right side the three wise men are being told that a baby has been born who will be the King of Kings. On the left side Augustus (then ruler of the Roman Empire) is also told of Jesus birth.

There is a great deal of significance to including both of these. When Jesus was born, it was to be the Messiah for the nation of Israel. Throughout the Old Testament there had been hints that a savior would come for all nations, but that was pretty much unacknowledged. In this painting we have annunciations to world leaders that represent the East and the West, or the known world at the time, neither of whom have any direct connection to the nation of Israel. The meaning being made clear was that this was a Savior for the world in its entirety.

The artist of the altarpiece cannot be identified, so the credit is given to the workshop of Van Der Weyden.

If you want to read other articles in this series follow this link.

Continue the Advent in Art Journey – Day 11 Van Eyck

Sources

E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art. (New York, Phaidon Press, 2016)

Professor Sharon Latchaw Hirsh, How to Look at and Understand Great Art, Lecture series, Great Courses

Professor William Koss, History of European Art  Lecture series, Great Courses

Sister Wendy Beckett, The Story of Painting (London, Dorsey Kindersley, 2000)

Marilyn Stokstad, Art History. (New Jersey, Pearson Education, 2005)

National Gallery of Art website  www.nga.gov

Metropolitan Museum of Art website  www.metmuseum.org

The Getty Center www.getty.edu

And thanks to the Met and Wiki commons quality images for public domain art is now much more easily accessible.