National Gallery of Art

Biography

Rogier van der Weyden or, in French, Rogier de le Pasture, was born in Tournai in 1399 or 1400. He died in Brussels on 18 June 1464. On 5 March 1427, Rogier began an apprenticeship with Robert Campin that lasted four years. On 1 August 1432 he was received as a master in the painters's guild of Tournai. By April 1435 he is recorded as being in Brussels, and in March 1436 Rogier is mentioned as official painter of the city of Brussels, though exactly when he was appointed to this post is unknown. It is generally assumed that Rogier made a trip to Rome in the Jubilee year of 1450, as reported by Fazio in De Viris Illustribus, written in 1456. [This is an edited version of the artist's biography published, or to be published, in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]

Bibliography

1930

Destrée, Jules. Roger de la Pasture van der Weyden. 2 vols. Paris and Brussels, 1930.

1949

Rolland, P. "Les Impératifs historiques de la biographie de Roger." Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art 18 (1949): 145-161.

1953

Panofsky, ENP 1953: 155-158, 248-302.

1966

Feder, Theodore. "A Reexamination Through Documents of the First Fifty Years of Roger van der Weyden's Life." The Art Bulletin 48 (1966): 416-431.

1972

Davies, Martin. Rogier van der Weyden. London, 1972.

1979

Soenen, M. "Un renseignement inédit sur la destinée d'une oeuvre bruxelloise de Van der Weyden, ..." In R. van der Weyden, Rogier de le Pasture. Exh. cat., Musée Communal de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1979: 126-128.

1986

Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1986: 241.