Detail of St. Luke Drawing the Virgin by Van der Weyden in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin
about 1435–40
Rogier van der Weyden, Flemish, about 1400–1464

Dimensions: 137.5 x 110.8 cm (54 1/8 x 43 5/8 in.)

Medium or Technique: Oil and tempera on panel

Classification: Paintings
Type: Religious - New Testament; Saints; Genre - Interior; Portrait - Self - Male

Accession Number: 93.153

This is among the most important northern European paintings in the United States. In it Rogier exquisitely combined the Gothic legacy of stylized patterning with a new sense of naturalism. He did not, however, merely replicate the world around him, but manipulated details to create an intricate program of symbols. For example, the enclosed garden in this painting refers to the Virgin's purity while the carved figures of Adam and Eve on the arms of the throne symbolize Christ's and Mary's roles in redeeming humankind from original sin. Rogier may have modeled Saint Luke's features on his own.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/saint-luke-drawing-the-vir...