Individual portraits
by Rogier van der WEYDEN

Rogier van der Weyden excelled in the genre of portrait. Unlike Jan van Eyck, he was no realist. He did not seek to capture the particular character of his model, but instead tried to create an ideal image. This approach was very popular with his contemporaries, and brought him considerable success in this genre. He was sought after by the grandest aristocrats and prelates, as well as by the wealthy bourgeoisie, who wanted him to record and embellish their features for posterity. Yet, depending on which historian you believe in, there are only between five and fourteen authenticated portraits by Rogier that have survived to this day.

Although he painted portraits throughout his entire career, many of them integrated into wider contexts and larger scenes, those of his individual portraits that have come down to us show a clear imbalance in their periods: the great majority were not done until the 1450s, and most of them were probably even as late as around 1460 and later.

Preview Picture Data Info
Portrait of a Man (Guillaume Fillastre?)
1440s
Oil on panel, 33,7 x 23 cm
Courtauld Gallery, London


Portrait of a Man (reverse side)
1440s
Oil on panel, 33,7 x 23,5 cm
Courtauld Gallery, London


Lady Wearing a Gauze Headdress
c. 1445
Oil on oak panel, 47 x 32 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin


St Ivo
c. 1450
OIl on oak panel, 45 x 35 cm
National Gallery, London


St Ivo (detail)
c. 1450
Wood
National Gallery, London


Portrait of Philip the Good
after 1450
Oil on wood, 31 x 23 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon


Portrait of a Lady
c. 1455
Oil on oak panel, 37 x 27 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington


Portrait of a Man
1455-60
Oil on oak panel, 32 x 22,8 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid


Francesco d'Este
c. 1460
Oil on oak panel, 30 x 20 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


Portrait of Charles the Bold
c. 1460
Oil on oak panel, 49 x 32 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin


Portrait of Antony of Burgundy
c. 1461
Oak, 38,4 x 28 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels


Portrait of Antony of Burgundy (detail)
c. 1461
Oak
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels


Portrait of a Woman
c. 1464
Oil on oak panel, 36,5 x 27 cm
National Gallery, London



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
Pietàs | Various | Fragments, copies of last works
Graphics



© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.