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The KMSKA loans Rogier van der Weyden’s The seven sacraments to the Prado

From March 24 through June 28 the Museo del Prado in Madrid devotes an exhibition to Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1464). The exhibition is curated by Lorne Campbell, and is organised in conjunction with the restoration of The Crucifixion in El Escorial (near Madrid). The restoration is currently undertaken at the Prado. This will provide a unique opportunity to see The Crucifixion and The Descent from the Cross, two of Van der Weyden's most influential works, together. A third major painting in the oeuvre of Van der Weyden, the Miraflores Triptych (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) that was in Spain from an early date, will be on view as well. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA) loans The seven sacraments to the exhibition. The seven sacraments are ordered around a Crucifixion, which is situated in the middle hall of a Gothic church. On the left panel, Baptism, Confirmation and Confession are depicted. The right panel shows the Holy Orders, Marriage and Extreme Unction.

Rogier van der Weyden belongs amongst the greatest artists of the 15th Century. His work has innovating qualities that had an enormous influence on other painters. He gave his works an emotional intensity, which makes it nearly impossible for the viewer to be left unmoved. The exhibition analyses different and fundamental aspects of the artist's creative activity, such as the close links between his works and sculpture, the far-reaching subsequent influence of his art and its repercussion in Spain. Works on a massive scale by Van der Weyden and his followers - paintings, sculpture and tapestries - provide one of the principal themes of the exhibition.

Exhibition Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1399-1464)
March 24 - June 28 2015
Museo del Prado, Madrid

(News item March 6, 2015)