St Luke portraying the Virgin, Roger Van der Weyden

Résumé du document

Roger Van der Weyden's painting represents the Virgin Mary and Baby Christ on the left and St Luke in the foreground of the painting on their right. She sits in front of a bench whose armrest is a carving of Adam and Eve with the serpent. She holds the Christ Baby in her arms, offering him her breast. The baby is looking up, smiling; his limbs are elongated and his skin is darker than the Virgin's. Beneath her is a long gold and red drapery on the wall, behind and above her. St Luke holds his drawing and wears bright red clothes. They are placed in an open room vertically divided in three parts by two columns in the middle. The space between the two columns stands for the doorframe and opens up to the middle ground. There is an additional foreground space on St Luke's right, an opening to another room in which we can catch sight of a writing desk under an open window and an ox underneath it.

Extraits

[...] Their divine particularity is emphasized by the gold and the use of lustre to bring light. This tapestry is the only shiny texture in the painting and the red is illuminated by touches of a golden, divine light that surrounds them. We can finally find some red colour in the round window that is placed above the scene and divided in three parts as well maybe to signify the painter's awareness of this tripartition and double dialogue reminding the viewer of the Holy Trinity and reinforcing the religious immersion. [...]

[...] The viewer's eyes are attracted to the Virgin, the Child and St Luke, but also to the two characters in the middle. There is already a link between them through the triangular composition whose lines are reinforced by the pyramidal design of the water. The two characters from behind are right in the middle of the composition. They could echo the Virgin and the painter, since their clothes looks similar for example the blue and white clothes for the woman on the left. [...]

[...] The left third of the painting represents the ideal whereas the painter and his work are depicted on the right third. In between is the water associated with the viewers, the intermediary between the two sides of a reflection. Finally what unifies the three aspects of the painting is the colour red. The painter's clothes are red, the viewers both wear some red in their clothes, and the tapestry behind the Virgin Mary is red and gold. The density and proportion of red is different between the three characters, to emphasize their respective situation in the painting. [...]

[...] The painter allows a dialogue with the viewer using several references that appeal to their knowledge. We can think that the scene takes place in a bourgeois setting with the slab floor, the window on the right and the study desk. It sets a more intimate and individual place: religion is entering the bourgeois' home, both in reality and in the world of the painting. However the two middle columns and the arch in the foreground are not characteristic of Gothic architecture but are a reference to Italian painting which an educated bourgeoisie would notice. [...]

[...] On the top of the composition, in the foreground, there is a round window, divided in three by a wooden column. The way space is engaged in the composition and the different narratives' interactions point to the double dialogue that stands in this intimate painting: a dialogue between the painter and the religious scene and a dialogue between the viewer and the painting. The emphasis on the relationship between the three main actors links idealism, realistic representation and the reality of the viewer. [...]