Body Gestures in Paintings of Rogier Van Der Weyden

The end of the Middle Ages saw an increase in the numbers of painters, illuminators, tapestry makers and other artists of the Burgundian States. Notable among these was Rogier Van Der Weyden, the official painter of Brussels, who achieved great heights in his ability to portray emotion from a personal point of view. The art of Van Der Weyden was striking to his contemporaries in his methods of using gesture, particularly hand gesture, to convey symbolic meaning.

It is important to note that in medieval iconography, position, grouping, and symmetry were of extraordinary importance. Attributes to the saints, the usual subjects of religious art, were commonly understood. In some artistic works the whole life of a saint was gathered up in one distinctive feature, such as St. Martin accompanied by a wild goose. In this instance, the goose is intended as a reminder that the feast of St. Martin at the beginning of winter coincides with the migration of the birds. This type of emblem conveys a great deal of meaning to the viewer. In this situation art has given form to a commonly understood association between the event and the time of year in which it occurs.

Learned art historians and ecclesiologists have determined the value of emblems in the fact that they are prescriptive historical tokens, a type of recognized language of symbolism. The modern mind does not express itself in this way, and it is important

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and ring finger are touching, and the other fingers are spread. This hand gesture originated as a pagan symbol for life energy, the energy of the material life, not spiritual life. This juxtaposition of symbolism might suggest that the souls are being damned to hell for having paid too much attention to the material life instead of the spiritual life. The public of 1450 may have understood this idea as a part of the knowledge of the seven deadly sins. This altarpiece is also rich in symbolism in the placement of the figures. The nude figures in the lower level, closest to the viewer quite clearly show the distress and fear of judgement. Most of them are actively moving or running, and almost all of them are facing away from the central panel, showing the fear of judgement. Undoubtedly to the viewer of the time, the use of the right hand or the left hand also conveyed understandable meaning. Van der Weyden's portraits and religious work make great use of the convention of objects held in the hand. The Braque-Brabant Triptych shows each figure holding some particular object which says much about the position and importance of the person, similar to the use of the emblem. Van der Weyden reached such a degree of skill in
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Approximate Word count = 2038
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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