Visitation by Rogier van Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden
Visitation 
Oil on oak panel (57x36 cm)- c. 1445
Located in Museum der Bildenden Kunste, Leipzig

Biography:
Rogier van der Weyden never signed any of his painting, but scholars know a man of this name was living and painting in Belgium during the 1400s and have worked in recent years to identify painting that were most likely created by him. 

Due to loose record keeping and the devastating effects of World War II bombings, uncovering information about Rogier van der Weyden has posed a real challenge for art historians and scholars. Nonetheless, they have managed to patch a coherent chronology of this painter's life and work. 

(http://www.artble.com/artists/rogier_van_der_weyden)

Van der Weyden is believed to have become a master in the Tournai painters' guild in 1432, when he was in his early 30s. To achieve this level, he must have been studying in Campin's workshop for a number of years although no surviving records clearly indicate this.

Despite a definitive chronology, many scholars suggest that the works Virgin and Child, Virgin and Child and St. Catherine and Visitation are early works completed by van der Weyden, executed shortly after he left Campin's workshop.

Other art historians point out, however, that these works lack the "geometric harmony" that van der Weyden's authenticated paintings - like Magdalene Reading - possess, arguing that these early works should instead be attributed to younger members of van der Weyden's new and loosely organized workshop.

Magdalene Reading is a work that has almost certainly been painted by the same person as later works, like the Miraflores Triptych and Descent from the Cross, which are confirmed van der Weyden paintings.

The figures in this earlier style are painted in a Flemallesque style, with an idealization of the heads, concern for narrative balance, emotion, decorative detail and gesturing.

In his later years, van der Weyden seemed to have developed a disregard for accuracy in figure representation. According to Dr. Lorne Campbell, he "abandoned any pretence of obeying the laws of spatial recession," instead producing works in an almost proto-abstract manner, with figures pitched at different scales and sometimes bent in impossible ways.

While these distortions are often not immediately obvious they can sometimes produce a general feeling of unease in the viewer, who often doesn't realize why the figures seem at once life-like and inherently two-dimensional.

While van der Weyden's figures exude an unmistakable emotion and "clinical exactitude," the artist chose to play with their special proportions to achieve specific compositional effects. Works such as the Seven Sacraments and the Last Judgment exhibit this somewhat free-flowing style.

Throughout his career van der Weyden remained dedicated to exhibiting real people with real emotions and so instead of glossing over our humanity, he embraced and highlighted it.

(http://www.artble.com/artists/rogier_van_der_weyden)

Statements:
"The religious paintings of Rogier van der Weyden are full of emotional power, ranging from the tenderness of a mother's love to the intensity of Jesus' death." -Richard Cork

Richard Cork is a British art historian, editor, critic, broadcaster and exhibition curator. He has been an art critic for the Evening Standard, The Listener, The Times and the New Statesman. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge from 1980–90, and the Henry Moore Senior Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London from 1992–95. He then served as Chair of the Visual Arts Panel at the Arts Council of England until 1998.
(http://www.wsj.com/articles/rogier-van-der-weyden-review-intensity-in-life-and-death-1433197911)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cork)

Elements and principles of design:

Space is portrayed in this art piece through the landscape that is divided up with paths behind the Virgin Mary and Elisabeth. The scale of the man playing with the dog in the distance also creates a the illusion of space. These visual elements create a sense of motion as Elisabeth has traveled a long distance to meet Mary.

The emphasis on the way the women lay their hands on each other’s pregnant bellies directs my eyes to that particular area giving it visual dominance. The way Elisabeth’s hand lays on Mary’s belly is almost unnatural or awkward. The hand is bending in an impossible way making the realism and space of the painting feel two-dimensional.

Connection to the theme

The Flemish painter of the fifteenth century, Rogier van der Weyden illustrates the tender moment between two mothers in his genre painting to depict ordinary people engaging with little reference to religion. I have chosen this art piece to portray the connection or bond all women have through motherhood. The painting depicts that Elisabeth has traveled a long way to greet Mary and show the tender connection of motherhood. I feel the road represents the long road to travel during pregnancy. Every mother feels that it is such a long and tiresome experience to be pregnant, but when it is over it seems such a short moment in our lives. So we must stop and take a moment to enjoy the process of creation.