Jan van Eyck - The Virgin of the Chancellor Rolin, detail 1434-1436
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The Virgin of the Chancellor Rolin, detail 1434-1436
66x62cm oil on oak
Louvre, Paris, France
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From Louvre, Paris:
The painting is from the Saint Sebastian chapel in the church of Autun, from which it was removed in 1793 when the buildings were destroyed. It subsequently entered the Louvre collections and at this point lost its original frame, which must have borne the artist's signature, together with the precise date when it was painted.
Nicolas Rolin commissioned this painting to decorate the chapel and, as the donor, he is portrayed very realistically. Although from a modest family background in Autun, he was a lawyer who was appointed to the position of chancellor in 1422: his advancement was due to the trust placed in him by two dukes of Burgundy of the house of Valois, John the Fearless and Philip the Good. The ancient origin of the work goes back to the foundations of the chancellor in the church of Notre-Dame-du-Châtel in Autun, where his ancestors were buried and where he had been baptized. As an enlightened patron, the chancellor called upon the most renowned artists of the time to carry out his various commissions. Thus his name is linked to such distinguished works as the Polyptych of the Last Judgment by Rogier Van der Weyden (Hospices de Beaune) and the Virgin of the Louvre.