St Luke Madonna, 1435-40
by Rogier van der WEYDEN

Rogier created another great work during his early period in Brussels, roughly between the middle of the 1430s and the beginning of the 1440s: the painting of St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Virgin, known as the St Luke Madonna. St Luke the Evangelist was also the first Christian painter, and had painted the Virgin Mary from life. As a consequence he was the patron saint of painters, and in many towns and cities was regarded as patron of their guilds. As a result, most of the major pictures of St Luke were destined for the altars of these communities; Rogier's painting was probably an altarpiece for the Brussels guild.

There exist several examples of this composition, identical apart from a few details, of which the one in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, since its restoration in 1932-33, is regarded by most art historians as the original (other examples in Munich, Alte Pinakothek, St Petersburg, Hermitage, and Bruges, Groeninge Museum).

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 6 minutes):
Guillaume Dufay: Ave, maris stella, hymn for the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Preview Picture Data File Info Comment
St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna
1435
Oil and tempera on panel, 138 x 111 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

769*980
True Color
152 Kb



St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (detail)
1435
Oil and tempera on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

1000*866
True Color
176 Kb



St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna
-
Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 103 x 109 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

1255*1182
True Color
200 Kb



St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (detail)
-
Oil on canvas transferred from wood
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

638*950
True Color
104 Kb



St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (detail)
-
Oil on canvas transferred from wood
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

711*1006
True Color
176 Kb



St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (detail)
-
Oil on canvas transferred from wood
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

569*864
True Color
121 Kb



St Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna
c. 1450
Oil on oak panel, 138 x 110 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

903*1131
True Color
186 Kb



St Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna
c. 1450
Oil on oak panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

753*1305
True Color
146 Kb



St Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna
-
Oil on oak panel, 133 x 107 cm
Groeninge Museum, Bruges

1000*1304
True Color
187 Kb




Summary of works by Rogier van der Weyden
Altarpieces
Deposition | St Luke Madonna | Annunciation | Miraflores
7 Sacraments | Crucifixion | Bladelin (Middelburg) | Beaune
Braque | St Columba | St John | Various altarpieces
Portraits
Portrait diptychs | Individual portraits
Single panels
Pietŕs | Various | Fragments, copies of last works
Graphics