History of World Art II: Day 19 - Rogier van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden (1399 or 1400 – June 18, 1464) was a painter from the Netherlands who took up painting later in life and enjoyed much fame during his lifetime. First mentioned in 1427 he studied under Campin and soon became more skilled then his master, eventually even influencing his style. He moved to Brussels in 1435 and established himself as a painter with great attention to detail and developed a reputation for his technical skill and for infusing his work with emotion with line and color. van der Weyden experienced great fame in the later half of the 15th, by which time he eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity. He was highly successful internationally and many of his paintings were commissioned by foreigners or taken to Italy and Spain. The work that can be attributed to him seems to be in question and he had a workshop or atelier where work was done, so some of his painting were done in his style by his employees. His surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, alterpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits and much of his work was destroyed in the later part of the 17th century - it is hinted that this may have been because his work fell out of style and he was almost completely forgotten by the middle of the 18th century.

I love that in every one of his portraits, the face is not the only star... he really focused on the hands as well and each pair is different, almost showing more expression and emotion then the faces of his subjects. They are so detailed and the faces are so stoic and porcelain-like that they almost seem disembodied and part of a different painting. Below are some examples of his portraits of faces and hands: