WEYDEN, Rogier van der
(b. 1400, Tournai, d. 1464, Bruxelles)

Group of Men

c. 1460
Oil on panel, 50,1 x 31,7 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

This small panel is a piece sawn from the right-hand edge of a larger picture. The nature of the scene to which the group of men belonged has not yet been established. The warrior in the middle probably derives from the original of the copy of a Portrait of a Man in Antwerp, and a recycled portrait could be the basis for the man with the helmet next to him as well. The portrait heads here, however, as often happened, are set pieces used without any idea of actually portraying the people shown in the picture. The rather awkward execution, in untypical colours, shows that the painting could be from Rogier's workshop or by a successor of his.