New Masterpiece in the Collection of Museum M, Belgium

It is the first time that M has been able to add a 15th-century drawing to its Prints and Drawings Cabinet, a sub-collection that contains over 22,000 works. The drawing will be shown in the museum’s new collection presentation in 2024.

“Rogier van der Weyden has an important connection to Leuven,” says Bert Cornillie, Alderman of Culture and Chairman of M’s board of directors. “The painter from Tournai worked in our city, including for the former Chapel of Our Lady Without the Walls at the Tiensepoort and for St Peter’s Church. A drawing from his circle is therefore a particularly valuable addition to the city’s museum collection, which is managed by M. It not only enriches our understanding of this important master’s oeuvre, but also provides additional contextual information about Dieric Bouts, who was active in Leuven at the same time.”

“Only about 600 fifteenth-century drawings from the Southern Netherlands are known worldwide,” adds Marjan Debaene, Curator of Old Masters at M Leuven. “Most of these are in foreign museum collections. In Flemish – and by extension Belgian – museum collections, the number of drawings from this period and of this quality can be counted on one hand. We are therefore enormously excited to be able to finally include this drawing in our collection. The museum already owns a 15th-century incunabulum, four prints and two manuscripts, but this is our first drawing from this period.”

The drawing, made with brush, brown ink and charcoal, depicts the swooning of the Blessed Virgin. She is supported by John and the two Marys complete the scene. The same motif is found in Rogier van der Weyden’s Triptych of the Seven Sacraments, part of the KMSKA collection and on loan to M between 2009 and 2022. The poses of the pensive Virgin and John, the facial expressions and the draped garments are rendered in an almost identical fashion.

M’s collection contains other works from the circle of Rogier van der Weyden. The Holy Trinity (c. 1430) from the studio of Van der Weyden, for example, is currently on loan to the Snijders&Rockoxhuis in Antwerp. There is also the Nobleman’s Triptych(1443), kept in St Peter’s Church. This work is the earliest known copy of Rogier van der Weyden’s world-famous Descent from the Cross (c. 1435), which was created for the Chapel of Our Lady Without the Walls and is now part of the Prado collection in Madrid.

Van der Weyden’s Swooning was on long-term loan to M from 2011 to 2017, where it was shown with his Triptych of the Seven Sacraments. This drawing from the artist’s circle testifies to his immense influence on artistic production in the Southern Netherlands.

Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399/1400-1464) was born in Tournai. He began working in the studio of Robert Campin, the city’s most famous painter, in 1427. By 1435, Rogier was living in Brussels; his studio was on the Cantersteen. He was appointed official city painter in Brussels, a post he held until his death. Van der Weyden, together with Jan Van Eyck, quickly became one of the most important Southern Netherlandish painters of the 15th century. The controlled emotion of the figures in his paintings greatly influenced the visual arts and subsequent generations of artists. In 2009, M Leuven organised the retrospective exhibition Rogier van der Weyden. The Master of Passions. It included over 100 works, of which 58 were borrowed from renowned collections in Europe and North America.

Image :Circle of Rogier van der Weyden, 'The Swooning of the Blessed Virgin and two Marys', ca. 1458-1469, drawing, ink on paper, 332 x 208 mm, collection M Leuven, photo M Leuven