1462
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso) is a 1462 oil by Rogier van der Weyden, a Northern Renaissance work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
This painting shows a man sitting with a serious expression. He's set against a dark background, which makes his face stand out. The man is Jean Gros, an important administrator, and his coat of arms is on the back of the painting. This portrait is interesting because it was once part of a special folding panel. Jean Gros had a successful career and made a lot of money, and this portrait shows him at the start of it. You can learn more about this style by looking at the work of Rogier van der Weyden.
This portrait once formed half of a folding, portable diptych. The sitter—identifiable through his coat of arms, personal motto, and initials on the back of the panel—is Jean Gros, an administrator to the future Duke of Burgundy. This portrait depicts him at the outset of a successful career, during which he amassed a large fortune and led a privileged life. Rogier van der Weyden presented the half-length figure against a plain, dark background, which accentuates his features and his expressive hands. This gesture indicates that the sitter’s prayerful gaze was originally directed at another…
Dr. Isaac Joseph de Meyer (d. 1861), Bruges, by 1859 [Weale 1859]; his son, Dr. August de Meyer, Bruges. Sold to Rodolphe Kann (d. 1905), Paris, by 1899 [according to Friedländer 1899]; his heirs; sold to Duveen, Paris and New York, 1907 [information supplied by Guy Bauman]; sold to Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, London, Feb. 1912 [Kleinberger stock card, Department of European Painting, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]; sold to Kleinberger, Paris and New York, Mar. 1, 1912 [Kleinberger stock card cited above]; sold to Benjamin Altman, New York, July 3, 1912; bought back by Kleinberger, Nov.…
Bruges, Grande Salle des Halles, Tableaux de l’ancienne école néerlandaise, 1867, no. 19. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1933, no. 55. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1934, no. 128. Brussels, Musée Communal de Bruxelles, Maison du Roi, Rogier van der Weyden—Rogier de le Pasture, 1979, no. 16. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych, November 16, 2006–February 4, 2007, cat. 37; Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, March 3–May 27, 2007. The Art Institute of Chicago, New Light on Old…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Rogier van der Weyden (Dutch: ; 1399 or 1400 – 18 June 1464), initially known as Roger de la Pasture (French: ), was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs,…
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