The Stadschilder and the Serment

NOTES

• Oil on panel, 7' 2 5/8” x 8' 7 1/8”.
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• Dijkstra, J., Origineel en kopie, een onderzoek naar de navolging van de Meester van Flémalle en Rogier van de Weyden, dissertation, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1990, 35; see also Terner, R., Die Kreuzabnahme Rogier van der Weydens. Untersuchungen zu Ikonographie und Nachleben, dissertation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, 1974.
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• The panel must date after the young painter declared his independent mastership in Tournai on August 1, 1432. See Feder, T.H., ‘A Reexamination through Documents of the First Fifty Years of Rogier van der Weydens's Life’, Art Bulletin, 48 (1966), p. 424–25; Schabacker, P., ‘Notes on the Biography of Robert Campin’, Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, klasse der schone kunsten, 41 (1980), 2, p. 11–12, n.37; and Schabacker, P., ‘Observations on the Tournai Painters’ Guild with Special Reference to Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret’, Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, 43 (1982), 1, p. 7ff. Rogier's Deposition must date before 1443, the date of a smaller variant of his composition, still housed in the church of St. Pieter in Louvain, (see Blum, S.N. Early Netherlandish Triptychs: a Study in Patronage, Berkeley / Los Angeles, 1969, p. 138, n. 16) This anonymous copy was commissioned in memory of Willem Edelheer, himself a “chef-homme” of the Greater Crossbowmen's Guild, (van Puyvelde, L., La peinture flamande au siècle des van Eyck, Paris/Brassels/New York/Amsterdam/London, 1953, p. 143) Rogier's original must predate this installation of the Edelheer Altarpiece. It also would have predated the 1439 death of Willem Edelheer if the patriarch rather than his heirs commissioned the work. Blum (1969, p. 50) states that Willem was responsible for the commission; on the other hand, E. van Even (Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent. Formation de la ville—événements mémorables—territoire—topographie—institutions—monuments—oeuvres d'art, Brussels, 1895, p. 325) says the altarpiece was ordered by his son (and, following Molanus's misinformation, commissioned from Rogier himself). Blum (1969, p. 138 n. 19) further brought the ‘post quem’ back to 1435, the date of the death of Willem's son Louis, who is not depicted with his family in the wings.
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• The most-cited documents on the commission are the c. 1570 account by the historian of Louvain, Joannes Molanus; the 1574 inventory of works bequeathed by Philip II to the Escorial; a 1565 print after the composition by Cornelis Cort bearing the inscription, “M Rogerij Belgiae inuentum” (Friedländer, M.J., Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 2, Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle, New York, 1967, cat.3i, pl. 10); and Carel van Mander's account in his schilderboeck, Haarlem, 1604. These sources are discussed in Folie, J., ‘Les oeuvres authentifiées des Primitifs flamands,’ Institut royal dupatrimoine artistique / Koninklijk instituut voor het kunstpatrimonium. Bulletin, 6 (1963), p. 208, and n.2; and, more recently, in Thürlemann F., ‘Die Madrider Kreuzabnahme und die Pariser Grabtragung: das malerische und das zeichnerische Hauptwerk Robert Campins,’ Pantheon, 51, (1993), p. 18ff. See also van Even, E., ‘Nederlandsche kunstenaers vermeld in de onuitgegevene geschiedenis van Leuven, van J. Molanus, †1585,’ De Dietsche warande. Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche oudheden, en nieuwere kunst en letteren, 4 (1858), p. 17ff.
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• Boonen, W., Geschiedenis van Leuven geschreven in de jaren 1593 en 1594 door Willem Boonen, ed. E. van Even, Louvain, 1880, p. 195. The chapel was confiscated from the crossbowmen on 23 September 1798, put on public auction with its remaining contents; the edifice was then torn down; see Piot, G.J.C., Histoire de Louvain depuis son origine jusqu'aujourd'hui, Louvain, 1839, p. 20; Vanderlinden, H., Geschiedenis van de stad Leuven, Louvain, 1893, p. 130–32; Van Even 1895, p. 436–38; and Meulemans, A., ‘De Leuvense broederschap van Sint Lucas,’ Jaarboek van de geschied- en oudheidkundige kring voor Leuven en omgeving, 19 (1979), p. 39.
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• See most recently Thürlemann 1993, p. 18ff. See also Frinta, M., The Genius of Robert Campin, The Hague, 1966. Thürlemann discusses the record of Philip II's 1548 trip through the Netherlands, in which the author, Vincente Alvárez, praises the panel, then in the collection of Mary of Hungary, but offers no attribution; see also Sulzberger, S., ‘La Descente de croix de Rogier van der Weyden,’ Oud-Holland, 78 (1963), p. 150. Thürlemann concludes that, because Alvárez did not attribute the panel, the name of its painter was unknown at that time, and that ‘Master Rogier’ only became a traditional (and therefore spurious) attribution in the 1560s. But Thürlemann does not mention that Alvárez also omitted the name of Mary's court painter, Michiel Coxcie, a contemporary who Philip's party could—and presumably would—have met while visiting Mary's court, and whose name was known to both Molanus and Carel van Mander. Regarding the attribution of the Deposition, Alvárez's account only proves that, for him, authorship of paintings was not an issue.
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• Von Simson, O., ‘Compassio and Co-Redemptio in Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross,’ Art Bulletin, 35 (1953), p. 9ff. Most archery guilds in the Low Countries were dedicated to St. George. When another patron was chosen, it was usually based on a civic reference. This was the case for the Grote Gilde in Louvain, where the Virgin was a second patron of the city along with St. Peter. This was also the case for groups in Liège, Brussels, and Paris. See Delaunay, L. A., Étude sur les anciennes compagnies d'archers, d'arbalétriers et d'arquebusiers, Paris, 1879, p. 8, 19.
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• Rogier had moved to Brussels by 1435, when he invested in bonds offered by Tournai to offset the cost of their war against the French throne (Feder 1966, p. 426–27). Although the exact year of his relocation is unknown, he is generally assumed to have left Tournai shortly after becoming a master, owing to that city's general economic decline; see Schabacker 1982, p. 17. Rogier's master's status would have allowed him access to other painters' guilds after submitting a ‘masterpiece,’ which may have been his ‘St. Luke drawing the Virgin,’ an altogether appropriate subject matter for such a donation, and dated on stylistic grounds to around 1435. See Eisler, C., Les Primitifs Flamands, I. Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle, vol. 4, New England Museums, Brussels, 1961, p. 71–93. By 1436, Rogier was installed as official city-painter in Brussels (Feder 1966, p. 427, 431), a prominent position that may have freed him from guild restrictions in nearby Louvain, where his name was never recorded.
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• A traditional date for the establishment of the guild is 1265–67 when an armed group marched under a banner in a civil war; see Meulemans, A., ‘Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van de Leuvense schuttersgilden,’ Eigen schoon en de Brabander, 55 (1972), p. 91; and Ising, A., Brabantse schuttersgilden vroeger en nu, Tilburg, 1983, 21. The 1784 regulations of the guild state that the Greater Crossbowmen were together ‘long before the tenth century’. (Meulemans 1972, p. 91) A. Wauters (Notice historique sur les anciens sermens ou gildes d'arbalétriers, d'archers, arquebusiers et d'escrimeurs de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1848, p. 2), citing no documents, dates the foundation of the guild to 1313.
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• This Lesser Crossbowmen's Guild was also referred to as the “Jonge Gilde,” or Young Guild. It was founded in 1343 under the patronage of St. George, and was, through the first centuries of its existence, something of a farm team from which the Greater Crossbowmen would draw its new members. (Ising 1983, p. 21; and Van Autenboer, E., De kaarten van de schuttersgilden van het Hertogdom Brabant (1300–1800), Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van het zuiden van Nederland 96–97, 2 vols., Tilburg, 1993–94, 1, p. 42–43) The regulations of the Grote Gilde were also updated in 1343, probably owing to the creation of this second guild; see Meulemans, A., ‘Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van de Leuvense schuttersgilden,’ Eigen schoon en de Brabander, 56 (1973), p. 48; and 58 (1975), p. 320; see also Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 79.
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• Initially the Grote Gilde had forty-six members; in 1423 Duke Jan IV raised this number to sixty while leaving the Kleine Gilde at its original forty-two members. (Meulemans 1972, p. 389; and Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 108) Ising (1983, p. 21) incorrectly states that the ‘Kleine Guide’ also had sixty members.
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• Each of Louvain's militia companies had taken part in the procession since 1346, (Meulemans 1973, p. 48f; Verlinden, G., Ommegang en tornel te Leuven in de late middeleeuwen, dissertation, Katholieke Univeristeit Louvain, 1982, p. 20) and the attendance of all guilds, military or otherwise, began by 1360. (Van Even, E., L'Omgang de Louvain. Dissertation historique et archéologique sur ce célèbre cortége communal, Louvain, Brussels, 1863, p. 16; and Meulemans 1979, p. 9)
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• These were granted to its ‘erfschutters’, or armed members, regulated in number and receiving special benefits, versus lay members, whose number was not stipulated and who enjoyed fewer advantages. Among the privileges enjoyed by the Grote Gilde's armed members was the admittance, without restriction, to any trade guild within the city. See Boonen 1880 ed., p. 255; and Meulemans 1973, p. 259.
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• Meulemans 1973, p. 256; and 1975, p. 444.
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• Meulemans 1975, p. 447. The primacy of the Louvain Crossbowmen continued into the eighteenth century; see Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 30, 38, 95.
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• While three other cities (Antwerp, Brussels and ‘s-Hertogenbosch) were refered to as ‘capitals of Brabant’ in the fifteenth century, Louvain was the ‘first capital’. Because of this status, other Louvain guilds, including its Archers and Rederijkers, were also granted the title of ‘hoofdgilde van Brabant’.
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• Meulemans 1975, p. 435–36.
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• Polychromed wood, eleventh or twelfth century, with later restorations.
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• Van Even 1863, p. 13; Van der Essen, L., Notre-Dame de St-Pierre (Louvain). Siège de la sagesse (1129–1927), Louvain, [1927], p. 22; Verlinden 1982, p. 20. The Abbey of Tongerloo regularly sent its members to pray before the statue as penance for sin; see van der Essen 1927, p. 41.
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• Charles was acting in the name of his brother, the Emperor Wenceslaus; see Divæus, P., Jaarboeken der stad Leuven, van 240 tot 1507 in 't Latyn opgesteld door Petrus Divœus in't Nederduitsch overgebragt door W.-A. van Dieve, 2 vols., Brussels/Louvain 1856–57, 1, p. 148; van Even 1863, p. 13–14; and Verlinden 1982, p. 22.
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• In 1394. See Van Even 1863, p. 26; Verlinden 1982, p. 23f.
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• This was the 891 victory of Arnulf of Corinthia over invading Norman troops. J. Molanus (Joannis Molarli Historiae Lovaniensium, ed. P.F.X. de Ram, Mémoires de la commission royale d'histoire I, 1861, p. 104) incorrectly stated that the procession dated from the time of the battle, and Boonen (1880 ed., p. 245) suggested that the first ‘vrije jaermarkt’ in 1377 inspired the first use of tableaux. There is, however no evidence to support either assertion. Still others have suggested that the connection between the annual ‘kermis ommegang’ and this major event from the early history of Brabant was only emphasized in the 1490s, which would have been the six hundredth anniversary of the battle; see Van Even, E., ‘Mengelingen voor de vaderlandsche geschiedenis,’ Vaderlandsch museum voor Nederduitsche letterkunde, oudheid en geschiedenis 2 (1858), p. 315 (he would later reverse his view;; ana Vanderlinden, H., Les Normans à Louvain, Paris, 1917, p. 20ff.
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• These included a ‘Martyrdom of St. Peter,’ a ‘Garden of Eden’ (Mary's redemptive role), a ‘Tree of Jesse’ (representing Mary's lineage) and a ‘Dormition of the Virgin.’ ‘St. Christopher’ was also added that in 1401, probably included to ensure the safe conduct of the statue through the city streets, as was a ‘St. George,’ the patron of the Kleine Gilde. See van Even 1863, p. 26; and Verlinden 1982, p. 24, 38–43.
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• A ‘Peter, Freed from Prison’ came in 1412. (van Even 1863, p. 27; and Verlinden 1982, p. 66f)
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• The ‘Dormition’ and ‘Coronation of the Virgin’ came in 1408. These were assisted by a priest, Janne Pieders, because the new carts required his theological training, (van Even 1863, p. 27; and Verlinden 1982, p. 25, 43) An ‘Assumption’ was introduced in 1411 (Verlinden 1982, p. 54), and a ‘Nativity’ in 1412. (van Even 1863, p. 27; and Verlinden 1982, p. 66f) The Magi were first recorded in 1481 (van Even 1863, p. 30; Twycross, M., ‘The Flemish ‘Ommegang’ and its pageant cars,’ Medieval English Theatre, 2 (1980), p. 83), but they may have appeared earlier as an adjuct to the ‘Nativity’ cart, (shepherds were also a part of the ‘Nativity,’ but were only recorded in the documents in 1442; see van Even 1863, p. 28) Scenes from the Life of Christ included a ‘Last Judgment’ in 1413 (Van Even 1863, p. 27; Erné, B.H., ‘Over wagenspelen,’ Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche taal- en letterkunde, 50 (1931), p. 227; and Verlinden 1982, p. 67); ‘Christ's Ascension’ in 1430 (Verlinden 1982, p. 69f, 159); the ‘Pentecost’ in 1431 (Meulemans 1979, p. 29); a ‘Crucifixion’ and ‘Entombment’ in 1436 (Verlinden 1982, p. 72, 160f); a ‘Last Supper’ and a ‘Garden of Olives’ in 1437 (van Even 1863, p. 28; and Verlinden 1982, p. 73f); and a heavenly scene, called the ‘Nine Choirs of Angels’, in 1445. (van Even 1863, p. 15; and Verlinden 1982, p. 79f)
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• ‘Helias’, the ‘knight of the swan’, appeared in 1411 (Verlinden 1982, p. 54). ‘Charlemagne’ appeared in 1462 (Verlinden 1982, p. 83f; and Torfs J.A., Geschiedenis van Leuven van de vroegste tijd tot op heden, Louvain, 1896, p. 196), and a giant ‘Hercules’ in 1463. (van Even 1863, p. 29) The latter two were regarded by Philip the Good as his Valois ancestors. The ‘Four Sons of Aymon,’ who Charlemagne pursued through the streets of Louvain, had first appeared in 1427. (Verlinden 1982, p. 67) 1463, the year ‘Hercules’ figured in the procession, also saw Philip the Good in attendance. That same year the city held a contest to further honour the Duke, offering prizes for the best religious carts and plays made for the procession. (Van Even 1863, p. 29) The cart of ‘Samson and Delilah,’ also introduced in 1462 (Verlinden 1982, p. 83f; Torfs 1896, p. 196), may have been in anticipation of the Duke's presence, and intended to emphasize, by negative example, the well-placed trust between the Duke and his city. Another cart depicted an abbreviated ‘Legend of St. Ursula,’ appearing in 1411. (van Even 1863, p. 27) The city onwed a relic of this saint, and house it under the jewel that hasped the gown of the ‘Virgin of Louvain.’ (Verlinden 1982, p. 63f) In 1441 the city added wagons depicting ‘Lazarus and the Rich Man’ and the ‘Temptation of St. Anthony.’ (Van Even 1863, p. 28; Verlinden 1982, p. 77) These may well have been manufactured specifically to accentuate its own piety, to address possible criticism regarding the increasingly-large cash outlay for the ostensibly religious production, and to demonstrate that the city remained pious despite this public display of wealth. The city-painter and ‘director of materials,’ Arde van Voerspoele (also known as ‘de Coffermaker’), even refused payment for his work on the ‘Lazarus’ cart in a show of personal (and by extension, civic) piety. See Van Even 1863, p. 28; and Verlinden 1982, p. 77. 1441 also saw the consecration of a new high altar in St. Pieters by the Bishop of Liège and the commission for a statue to replace the ‘Virgin of Louvain;’ see Van der Essen 1927, p. 25.
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• This happened regularly in the fourteenth century, when youths wearing the city's colors carried the torches that illuminated the ‘Virgin of Louvain.’ (Van Even 1863, p. 26) In 1455 the same colors were used for the background of a play of the ‘Seven Works of Mercy, the Seven Sacraments, and the Holy Trinity’ that was produced in the afternoon following the procession. (Verlinden 1982, p. 181; see also Smeyers, M., ‘De zeven werken van barmhartigheid en de zeven sacramenten. Een Leuvens toneelspel van 1455,’ Area Lovaniensis, 18, 1989, p. 143ff)
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• Verlinden 1982, p. 69f, 159. Both the cart and the play must have been quite ornate: the city-painter at the time, Arde van Voerspoele, worked for five weeks on the wagon and was paid an unusually high sum for the project. This afternoon play was presented again after the 1432 procession. (Van Even 1863, p. 28; Verlinden 1982, p. 159) On the latter occasion, the play may not have honored the introduction of a new cart, although a ‘Daniel in the Lion's Den’ did appear for the first time that year. Rather the encore presentation may have been mounted to coincide with another major event in the city: the institution of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Louvain, which was founded on the day of the kermis ommegang. The university itself had also been founded on the day of the kermis in 1425; see Van der Essen 1927, p. 127; and Verlinden 1982, p. 37. 1432 also witnessed the establishment of Louvain's Confraternity of the Holy Blood (van Even 1895, p. 326), the year after Pope Eugenius IV had granted an indulgence to the city's relic of the Holy Sacrament; see Wils, J., Le Sacrement de Miracle de Louvain (1374–1905), Louvain, 1905, p. 11. In 1433, the year after the establishment of the Confraternity, the kermis ommegang would be called the ‘processien van onser liever Vrouwen te Ste Peeters te Loven en vanden heylighen Sacramente’; see van Even 1863, p. 28.
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• In 1444, the processional version of the Coronation was a replacement of an earlier version, first appearing in 1408. See Van Even 1863, p. 28; and Verlinden 1982, p. 94ff, 196ff. On the 1445 plays, see Van Even 1863, p. 15; Verlinden 1982, p. 79f, 211–13.
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• The earliest mention of this is in 1369 (Meulemans 1973, p. 49, n. 254), but the practice may have been older.
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• In 1415 twenty foreign guilds attended the event, and fifty in 1435; Torfs 1896, p. 196.
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• Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 64.
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• Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 398.
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• These religious requirements only pertained to the armed members of the guild, the sixty so-called ‘erfschutters,’ and not to the ‘lay members’ of the guild whose number (and activity) was not strictly regulated by the charters; see Meulemans 1975, p. 321–24; and Van Autenboer 1993–94, p. 532–39. The overt religious character of the Louvain Crossbowmen also held true for other militia guilds in the Low Countries as well as in France. (Delaunay 1879, p. 75) In Herentals in 1512, for example, the regulations of the were rewritten specifically to change the character of the guild from a devotional confraternity to a militia guild. (Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 61) Incidents like this prompted Van Autenboer to remark that, ‘It is not always easy, and in the earliest instances impossible, to make a distinction between a religious confraternity and a militia guild, especially in the Middle Ages.’ (1993–94, 1, p. 60, author's translation; see also Meulemans 1975, p. 319)
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• The altar had previously been adorned with a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, placed there on February 19, 1365. This was probably the same statue that was later acquired by the Louvain rederijkers, ‘De Roose,’ from Our Lady outside the Walls and placed above their altar in St. Pieter's in 1803; see Van Even, E., Louvain monumental, ou description historique et artistique de tous les edifices civiles et religieux de la dite ville, Louvain, 1860, p. 237; and Van Even 1895, p. 365, 437. It is altogether likely that the rederijkers bought the statue in the sale of the contents of the Crossbowmen's chapel in 1798 mentioned above.
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• Henne, A., and Wauters, A., Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles, 3 vols., Brussels, 1845, 1, p. 109; Wauters 1848, p. 5. On the building of the Petit Sablon, see Petitjean, O., Historique de l'ancien grand serment royal et noble des arbalétriers de Notre-Dame du Sablon, Brussels, n.d., p. 20f. Like a number of cities in the Low Countries, Brussels also had two guilds of crossbowmen, and like Louvain, the Greater Crossbowmen were under the patronage of the Virgin of Sorrows.
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• De Baere, C., ‘Het aandeel der gilden in de ontwikkeling van het Nederlandsch tooneel te Brussel,’ Eigen schoon en de Brabander, 207 (1944), p. 2.
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• The city-funded meal of the Brussels Crossbowmen became an annual event after 1359; see Henne and Wauters 1845, 1, p. 171; Wauters 1848, p. 5; and Petitjean n.d., p. 25. Louvain had elections and a similar contest, but held theirs on Wednesday of Easter week. See Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 550.
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• This contest was used to select honorary leaders for the coming year; see Van Autenboer 1993–94, 1, p. 251.
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• For more on the public displays of group unity by late-medieval guilds, see McRee, B.R., ‘Unity or division? The social meaning of guild ceremony in urban communities,’ in City and Spectacle in Medieval Europe, ed. B.A. Hanawalt and K.L. Reyerson, Minneapolis, 1994, p. 189ff.
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• De Baere (1944, p. 1f) states that the Greater Crossbowmen of Brussels was also in charge of the afternoon production, despite the existence of a local rederijkerkamer, ‘Het Boeck’, founded as early as 1401. On this rederijkerkamer, see especially Van Elslander, A., et.al., ‘Lijst van Zuid-Nederlandsche rederijkerskamers uit de XVe en XVIe eeuw,’ Koninklijke souvereine hoofdkamer van rhetorica ‘De Fonteine’ te Gent. Jaarboek, 2 (1944), p. 28–29; and Van Elslander, A., ‘Lijst van Nederlandse rederijkerskamers uit de XVe en XVIe eeuw,’ Koninklijke souvereine hoofdkamer van rhetorica ‘De Fonteine’ te Gent. Jaarboek, 18 [2nd ser. 10] (1968), p. 36.
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• An attachment to the text of the Sevenste Bliscap says that it was performed in 1447, making 1441 the year that the ‘Eerste Bliscap’ was performed, assuming that there were no lapses in the sequence. This inscription also states that the series was first performed while the dauphin Charolois was married, that is between 1439 and 1446. (Leendertz, P., Jr., Middelnederlandsche dramatische poëzie, 2 vols., Leiden, 1907, 1, p. lxxxv; and Beuken, W.H., ed., Die eerste bliscap van Maria en die sevenste bliscap van Onser Vrouwen, Culemborg, 1978, p. 14ff) This may only refer, however, to the series in its then-current form; plays may well have been staged earlier.
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• Other cities in the Low Countries began to dramatize their already-existing processions at precisely that time, including Bruges, Damme, Dendermonde, Kortrijk, Mechelen, Oudenaarde and Touraai. Furthermore, Brussels' first rederijkerkamer, ‘Het Boeck,’ was established in 1401, as mentioned above.
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• Crossbowmen throughout the Low Countries maintained close connections to the production of religious dramas throughout the fifteenth century; see Van der Straeten, E., Le théâtre villageois en Fiandre, 2 vols., Brussels, 1874–1880; de Baere 1944; and Van Autenboer, E., Volksfeesten en rederijkers te Mechelen (1400–1600), Ghent, 1962; among others.
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• Quoted in De Baere 1944, p. lf. The Gesellen van der Grooter Gilden would still have this task in 1507. However, Beuken (1978, p. 11) suggests that ‘Het Boeck’ had a monopoly on the writing of the Brussels plays until the establishment of other rederijkerkamers in the last quarter of the fifteenth century.
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• Rogier painted exemplars of justice for this edifice in two campaigns, in 1439 and 1441. Unfortunately these were destroyed in 1695 along with the civic documents. See Van Gelder, J.G., ‘Enige kanttekeningen bij de Gerechtigheidtaferelen van Rogier van der Weyden,’ Rogier van der Weyden en zijn tijd, Brussels, 1965, p. 121, n. 3; and De Ridder, J.H.A., Gerechtheidstaferelen voor schepenhuizen in de zuidelijke Nederlanden in de 14de, 15de en 16de eeuw, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten, klasse der schone kunsten 51, Brussels, 1989.
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• The Brussels magistrate maintained a keen awareness of the activities of other cities, which was true for most cities in the Low Countries at this time. Brussels estabished the post of city-rhetorician in 1474, ‘because all other cities had one’. (Henne and Wauters 1845, 1, p. 27) Furthermore, Netherlandish cities regularly sent delegates to nearby and far-off locales to inspect how annual celebrations and royal visits would be decorated.
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• Henne and Wauters 1845, 1, p. 110, author's translation.
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• Although this artist, Romboude van Hingene, was not specifically cited as city-painter, each of his successors (into the sixteenth century) was recorded as both ‘director of materials’ and stadsschilder. See Van Even 1863, p. 27; ibid., L'Ancienne école depeinture de Louvain, Brussels/Louvain, 1870, p. 23f; and Verlinden 1982, p. 23ff, 67ff, 219. See also Meulemans, A., ‘Opdrachten van een 16e-eeuwse stadsschilder,’ Mededelingen van de geschied-en oudheidkundige kring voor Leuven en omgeving, 4 (1964), p. 70ff. A city-painter was also in charge of decorations and props for the local dramatized procession in Antwerp at that same time. See Worp, J.A., Geschiedenis van het drama en van het tooneel in Nederland, 2 vols., Rotterdam, 1904–08, 1, p. 45; and de Burbure, L., ed., De Antwerpsche ommegangen in de XIVe en XVe eeuw, naar gelijktijdige handschrifien, Uitgaven der Antwerpsche Bibliophilen 2, Antwerp 1878, p. x, 10. Rogier could have marketed himself as a prime candidate for the new position of city-painter/ommegang director in Brussels: he already had experience with a similar procession in his home town of Tournai. That city held its first cortège in 1092 to honour its relics of the True Cross and to commemorate the divine intervention that had ended a plague. The Tournai procession would become perhaps the most famous of its kind in all of the Low Countries and France, and would attract upwards of 100,000 visitors within a few years of its inception; see Cauchie, A., La grande procession de Tournai. Notice historique publiée à l'occasion du huitième centenaire de la procession, Louvain/Paris 1892; and Dumoulin J., and Pycke, J., eds., La grande procession de Tournai (1090–1992). Une réalité religieuse, urbaine, diocesaine, sociale, economique et artistique, exhibition catalogue, Tournai/Louvain-la-Neuve, 1992. Rogier would have been intimate with this procession through his master Robert Campin, who had worked on its decorations in 1426 and again in 1430, while Rogier was active in his shop. (Renders,. E., La solution du problème van der Weyden-Flémalle-Campin, 2 vols., Bruges, 1931, 1, p. 158; and Schabacker 1980, p. 11) It was just this experience, coupled with Rogier's own obvious talent, that may have inspired the city of Brussels to hire the young artist for the new post, even, perhaps, to create it for him.
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• Polychromed limewood. On the commission, see Van Even 1860, p. 203–04; 1863, p. 28; Van der Essen 1927, p. 18f: Verlinden 1982, p. 35. See also Van der Buecken, M., Wonderen bystandt van de alder-heylighste maeght ende moeder Godts Maria, bethoont aen haere getrouwe dienaers in de vermaerde collegiaele ende parochiaele hooftkercke van den Heylighen Petrus binnen Loven, hooft-stadt van Brabant met den list der H.H. Reliquien berustende in de voorsz. kercke, Louvain (de Zangre), 1757, p. 4. The twelfth-century ‘Virgin of Louvain’ had probably been damaged in the fires that hit St. Pieters in 1130 and 1373, which may have factored in the decision to replace the statue; see Div aus 1856–57 ed., p. 261; Van der Buecken 1757, p. 37f; and Van der Essen 1927, p. 24. Van Even (1895, p. 363) and Verlinden date the original commission to 1440. In 1442 the statue was polychromed by a local artist, Roelof van Velpen. (Van Even 1860, p. 203–04; 1863, p. 28; Van der Essen 1927, p. 18f: Verlinden 1982, p. 35) Both versions of the statue figured in the kermis ommegang of 1442, after which the later version was used exclusively. The new ‘Virgin of Louvain’ also assumed the properties of the earlier version and immediately began to work a great number of miracles. This prompted the Bishop of Liège to send a doctor of theology to investigate in October of that year; see Van der Buecken 1757, p. 30ff; Van Even 1895, p. 362; and Van der Essen 1927, p. 53.
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• Duverger, J., Brüssel als kunstcentrum in de XTVe en de XVe eeuw, Bouwstoffen tot de Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis 3, Antwerp, 1935, p. 11, 13.
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• Destrée, J., Roger de le Pasture van der Weyden, Paris/Brussels, 1930, 64. See also Duverger 1935, p. 12–13; and Périer d'Ieteren, C., ‘Rogier van der Weyden, his artistic personality and his influence on painting of the fifteenth century,’ in Rogier van der Weyden / Rogier de la Pasture. Official Painter to the City of Brussels. Portrait Painter of the Burgundian Court, exhibition catalogue, Brussels 1979, p. 42.
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• In fact all of Rogier's surviving works were done for non-civic patrons, often outside of Brussels. The artists seems to have enjoyed the freedom to work for whomever he wished.
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• See Roeder, A., Die Gebärde im Drama des Mittelalters, Münchner Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters 49, Munich, 1974; and Davidson, C., ‘Stage Gesture in Medieval Drama,’ Atti del IV Colloquio della société internationale pour l'etude du théâtre médiévale, ed. M. Chiabo, F. Doglio, M. Maymone, Viterbo, 1983, p. 465ff.
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• Prior to that date Christ's Passion had been represented typally, first by a ‘Raising of Lazarus,’ introduced in 1408, (Van Even 1863, p. 27; Verlinden 1982, p. 62) and later a ‘Daniel in the Lions’ Den,’ first appearing in 1432. (Van Even 1863, p. 28; Verlinden 1982, p. 71) Because of the enormous cost of production, both carts continued to be used after the Passion scenes were introduced.
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• Van Even 1863, p. 28; Verlinden 1982, p. 73f, 162. The records of the procession also state that the grave of Christ was carried by the minorites, both this year and the year before.
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• While the records of the ommegang from 1436 and 1437 only mention the Cross and the Sepulchre, it is likely that a ‘Deposition’ also appeared as a part of the processional sequence. The crucified Christ was played by a live actor (Verlinden 1982, p. 72); it is only logical that this same actor would have been lowered before being deposited in the Sepulchre.
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• Most scholars have dated the work to 1435–37, including Friedländer 1967 (he would later change this opinion, originally formulated in the 1920s, to “soon after 1432,” in his Van Eyck to Bruegel, London, 1956), Destrée 1930 (to 1433–35), Panofsky (Early Netherlandish Painting, its Origins and Development, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1953), and Feder 1966. Van Even (1870) and Renders (1931) dated it to c.1440.
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