In each of these cities, then, he must have remained a considerable
time. He does not seem to have practised his art in Rome. Perhaps his
stay there was a short one, and that his time was fully occupied by
sightseeing and devotion. That he fully appreciated the art treasures of
the Eternal City there can be no doubt, and we know that he was
enraptured with the Lateran pictures of Gentile da Fabriano, whom he
pronounced to be the first painter in Italy.
On his return to Brussels, Roger van der Weyden set to work with renewed
vigour. We still possess three of the pictures which he painted after
his journey to Italy:--the 'Nativity' triptych, with the portrait of
Peter Bladelin, now in the Museum at Berlin; the 'Last Judgment,' which
Chancellor Rolin ordered for the Hôtel Dieu at Baune (the authenticity
of this picture is disputed); and the 'Adoration of the Magi,' in the
Pinakothek at Munich. The last two especially show how profoundly the
great Brussels painter was influenced by his pilgrimage to Rome: the
composition of the Baune picture is almost the same as that of Andrea
Orcagna's 'Last Judgment,' and the main outlines of the Munich picture
distinctly recall the 'Adoration' of Gentile da Fabriano.
Of the numerous paintings attributed to Roger van der Weyden, probably
not more than five or six are of incontestable authenticity. He
certainly painted the 'Descent from the Cross' at Madrid, the 'Nativity'
at Berlin, the Medici triptych at Frankfort, and the 'Adoration of the
Magi' at Munich. These pictures are universally acknowledged to be his
work. Of the rest, most are attributed to him merely on account of the
similarity of style to the style of the work which is known to be his,
and are without signature or other designation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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