The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald

Last updated
A free copy in tapestry of The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald now in the Historical Museum of Bern. After Rogier van der Weyden - The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald.jpg
A free copy in tapestry of The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald now in the Historical Museum of Bern.

The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald was a set of four large panels painted by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden that decorated one wall of a court-room in the Town Hall of Brussels. They represented the Justice of Trajan, a Roman emperor, and the Justice of Herkinbald, a legendary Duke of Brabant. The panels were intended as a reminder to judges to dispense impartial justice and were admired by generations of visitors, including Albrecht Dürer. [1]

Contents

They were destroyed when the city was bombarded by the French in 1695 and are now known only from descriptions and from a tapestry copy in the Historical Museum of Bern. [2] [3]

The work is thought to have preoccupied van der Weyden for several years, and is believed to have been, in conception and execution, on a scale and breadth and skill to equal Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece . The panels were recorded and described in a number of sources until the 17th century; especially detailed are the inscriptions on the frames, which are likely the same as those contained on the edges of the tapestry. [4]

Description

A detail from The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald tapestry showing Herkinbald slaying his nephew as a punishment for rape. After Rogier van der Weyden - Herkinbald slaying his nephew (detail).jpg
A detail from The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald tapestry showing Herkinbald slaying his nephew as a punishment for rape.

Each panel was about eleven feet in height and together they spanned a distance of about thirty five feet. The theme of the panels was justice safeguarded by divine intervention. [5] The legends of Trajan and Herkinbald appear to occur together for the first time in 1308 in the Alphabetum Narrationum (Alphabet of Tales), a collection of over 800 tales attributed to Arnold of Liége (previously to Etienne de Besançon) arranged by themes and intended to be used as a basis for homilies. The theme Iustitia (Justice) included just these two legends, although the legend of Trajan is given in a slightly different version from that depicted in the paintings and tapestry. [6]

The first panel showed a widow begging justice from Trajan for the murder of her son and Trajan ordering the execution of the soldier accused by the woman (in the tale in the Alphabetum Narrationum, Trajan offered the widow his son as a replacement for her murdered son). The second panel depicted the story in the Golden Legend of Pope Gregory I's miraculous resurrection and conversion of Trajan, thus releasing him from Purgatory.

Detail believed to be a self-portrait Tapestry portrait of Rogier vand der Weyden.jpg
Detail believed to be a self-portrait

Gregory is shown holding Trajan's exhumed skull, in which the tongue has been miraculously preserved and thus able to utter the death sentence, demonstrating the justness of that sentence. Van der Weyden is known to have portrayed himself as a bystander in this scene. The third panel depicted Herkinbald on his death bed slitting the throat of his nephew, who had committed a rape. The fourth panel showed Herkinbald miraculously receiving the Host, despite refusing to confess the slaying of his nephew as a sinful act. [2] [7]

Both Nicholas of Cusa (in 1453) and Dubuisson-Aubenay (in the 1620s) mentioned that the work contained a self-portrait, generally thought to be faithfully reproduced in the 'Herkinbald slaying his nephew' passage. [4]

Tapestry

Heinrich Aldegrever, one of the Little Masters following Albrecht Durer, depicting Herkinbald on his deathbed slaying his nephew guilty of rape. Heinrich Aldegrever - Der Richter Herkinbald (Archambaud) seinen Neffen erstechend.jpg
Heinrich Aldegrever, one of the Little Masters following Albrecht Dürer, depicting Herkinbald on his deathbed slaying his nephew guilty of rape.

The tapestry dates from about 1450. It measures 461 cm by 1053 cm (about 15 feet by 35 feet) and was probably woven in either Tournai or Brussels, two important centres of tapestry manufacture and both associated with van der Weyden. It is a wall tapestry, woven in wool, silk, and gold and silver thread.

It was commissioned by George of Saluzzo on his appointment as Bishop of Lausanne in 1440. Saluzzo wanted a tapestry depicting justice scenes for the courtroom above his chapter house. He apparently knew that van der Weyden had painted these scenes and ordered them copied. It was not an exact copy but the earliest surviving work which depicts the same scenes. [7]

In the passages depicting Pope Gregory I, one of the bystanders is more finely and carefully worked than the others, and this is almost certainly a copy of the self-portrait that van der Weyden had originally incorporated in his painting. It is one of only two self-portraits that survive, both as copies (of which the other has two versions), of van der Weyden. Campbell remarks it gives a better impression of van der Weyden's disdainful appearance than the other. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogier van der Weyden</span> Early Netherlandish painter (c. 1399 – 1464)

Rogier van der Weyden or Roger de la Pasture was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly successful in his lifetime; his paintings were exported to Italy and Spain, and he received commissions from, amongst others, Philip the Good, Netherlandish nobility, and foreign princes. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity. However his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. His reputation was slowly rebuilt during the following 200 years; today he is known, with Robert Campin and van Eyck, as the third of the three great Early Flemish artists, and widely as the most influential Northern painter of the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice of Trajan</span>

The Justice of Trajan is a legendary episode in the life of Roman Emperor Trajan, based upon Dio Cassius' account : "He did not, however, as might have been expected of a warlike man, pay any less attention to the civil administration nor did he dispense justice any the less; on the contrary, he conducted trials, now in the Forum of Augustus, now in the Portico of Livia, as it was called, and often elsewhere on a tribunal."

<i>The Descent from the Cross</i> (van der Weyden) Painting by Rogier van der Weyden

The Descent from the Cross is a panel painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden created c. 1435, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The crucified Christ is lowered from the cross, his lifeless body held by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

<i>Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child</i> Pair of paintings by Rogier van der Weyden

The Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child consists of a pair of small oil-on-oak panels painted c. 1460 by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. While the authorship and dating of both works are not in doubt, it is believed but not proven that they were created as wings of a devotional diptych and that at some unknown time the panels were broken apart. A diptych panel fitting the description of the Mary wing was described in a 1629 inventory of paintings owned by Alexandre d'Arenberg, a descendant of Philip I de Croÿ (1435–1511). Both have been approximately dated to 1460 and are now in Antwerp and San Marino, CA respectively. The reverse of de Croÿ's portrait is inscribed with the family crest and the title used by the sitter from 1454 to 1461.

<i>Portrait of a Woman</i> (van der Weyden) Painting by Rogier van der Weyde

Portrait of a Young Woman is a painting completed between 1435–1440 by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden.

<i>The Magdalen Reading</i> Fragment of altarpiece painting by Rogier van der Weyden

The Magdalen Reading is one of three surviving fragments of a large mid-15th-century oil-on-panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The panel, originally oak, was completed some time between 1435 and 1438 and has been in the National Gallery, London since 1860. It shows a woman with the pale skin, high cheek bones and oval eyelids typical of the idealised portraits of noble women of the period. She is identifiable as the Magdalen from the jar of ointment placed in the foreground, which is her traditional attribute in Christian art. She is presented as completely absorbed in her reading, a model of the contemplative life, repentant and absolved of past sins. In Catholic tradition the Magdalen was conflated with both Mary of Bethany who anointed the feet of Jesus with oil and the unnamed "sinner" of Luke 7:36–50. Iconography of the Magdalen commonly shows her with a book, in a moment of reflection, in tears, or with eyes averted.

<i>Braque Triptych</i> Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden

The Braque Triptych is a c. 1452 oil-on-oak altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. When open, its three half-length panels reveal, from left to right, John the Baptist, The Virgin Mary with Jesus and Saint John the Evangelist, and on the right, Mary Magdalene. When the wings are closed, the work shows a vanitas motif of a skull and cross.

<i>Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin</i> Painting by Rogier van der Weyden

Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin is a large oil and tempera on oak panel painting, usually dated between 1435 and 1440, attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. Housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it shows Luke the Evangelist, patron saint of artists, sketching the Virgin Mary as she nurses the Child Jesus. The figures are positioned in a bourgeois interior which leads out towards a courtyard, river, town and landscape. The enclosed garden, illusionistic carvings of Adam and Eve on the arms of Mary's throne, and attributes of St Luke are amongst the painting's many iconographic symbols.

<i>Medici Madonna</i> (van der Weyden)

The Medici Madonna is an oil-on-panel painting by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden, dating from around 1460–1464 and housed in the Städel, Frankfurt, Germany.

<i>Virgin and Child with Saints</i> (van der Weyden)

Virgin and Child with Saints, is a large mid-15th century oil-on-oak altarpiece by the early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The work is lost since at least the 17th century, known only through three surviving fragments and drawing of the full work in Stockholm's Nationalmuseum by a follower of van der Weyden. The drawing is sometimes attributed to the Master of the Drapery Studies.

Ian Lorne Campbell is a Scottish art historian and curator. Campbell was Beaumont Senior Research Curator at the National Gallery, London from 1996 to 2012, and from 1974 to 1996 lectured on the Northern Renaissance at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. He has curated major exhibitions at the National Gallery and other museums, including ones on Rogier van der Weyden at Leuven in 2009 and the Prado in 2015.

<i>Durán Madonna</i>

Durán Madonna is an oil on oak panel painting completed sometime between 1435 and 1438 by the Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The painting derives from Jan van Eyck's Ince Hall Madonna and was much imitated subsequently. Now in the Prado, Madrid, it depicts a seated and serene Virgin Mary dressed in a long, flowing red robe lined with gold-coloured thread. She cradles the child Jesus who sits on her lap, playfully leafing backwards through a holy book or manuscript on which both figures' gazes rest. But unlike van Eyck's earlier treatment, van der Weyden not only positions his Virgin and Child in a Gothic apse or niche as he had his two earlier madonnas, but also places them on a projecting plinth, thus further emphasising their sculptural impression.

<i>Portrait of Antoine, Grand Bâtard of Burgundy</i> Painting by Rogier van der Weyden

Portrait of Antoine, 'Grand Bâtard' of Burgundy is an oil panel painting by the Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden portraying Anthony of Burgundy, the bastard son of Philip the Good and one of his mistresses, Jeanne de Presle. The panel is dated to about 1460 and held in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Belgium.

<i>Portrait of a Young Woman</i> (van der Weyden) Drawing by Rogier van der Weyden

Portrait of a Young Woman is a drawing by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It depicts a young woman wearing a headscarf pinned to her hair and has been variously dated as c. 1430s and c. 1440 - 1445. The identity of the woman has not been established, nor her social class. The drawing is presumably a study for a painted portrait now lost, but likely to have been similar to the Portrait of a Woman in Berlin.

<i>Annunciation Triptych</i> (Rogier van der Weyden)

The Annunciation Triptych is an oil-on-panel triptych by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden, dating from around 1434. It was originally formed by three panels, the central one being now at The Louvre museum in Paris, France; the side panels are at the Galleria Sabauda of Turin, northern Italy.

<i>Pietà</i> (van der Weyden) Painting by Rogier van der Weyden

Pietà is a painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden dating from about 1441 held in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. There are number of workshop versions and copies, notably in the National Gallery, London, in the Prado, Madrid, and in the Manzoni Collection, Naples. Infrared and X-radiograph evidence suggest that the Brussels version was painted by van der Weyden himself, not necessarily excluding the help of workshop assistants. Dendrochronological analysis gives a felling date of 1431 for the oak panel backing, supporting the dating of the painting to around 1441.

<i>Jean Wauquelin presenting his Chroniques de Hainaut to Philip the Good</i>

Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good is a presentation miniature believed to have been painted by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It decorates the frontispiece to the Chroniques de Hainaut, MS KBR.9242, Jean Wauquelin's French translation of a three-volume history of the County of Hainaut originally written in Latin by the 14th-century Franciscan historian Jacques de Guyse.

<i>Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments</i>

Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments refers to a 15th-century cope in the collection of the Historical Museum of Bern. It is part of the church treasure from the Cathedral of Lausanne sent to Bern after the Protestant conquest of Canton Vaud in 1536. The cope can be attributed to a master from the Netherlands in the circle of Rogier van der Weyden and was probably executed in Tournai where van der Weyden had a workshop from 1432 onwards.

<i>St John Altarpiece</i>

The St John Altarpiece is a c. 1455 oil-on-oak wood panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. The triptych is linked to the artist's earlier Miraflores Altarpiece in its symbolic motifs, format and intention.

<i>Portrait of Philip the Good</i> (van der Weyden)

Portrait of Philip the Good is a lost oil on wood panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, dated variously from the mid 1440s to sometime after 1450.

References

  1. Panofsky, p.253
  2. 1 2 3 Campbell (2004), p. 8
  3. Stechow, p. 9
  4. 1 2 Campbell (2004), 119
  5. Rothstein (2008)
  6. Campbell & Van der Stock (2009) p. 241
  7. 1 2 Campbell & Van der Stock (2009) p. 264-6

Sources