Rogier van der Weyden and workshop, 'The Exhumation of Saint Hubert', late 1430s
About the work
Overview
We are looking at the east end of a Gothic church, where the body of a bishop is being exhumed from his tomb in front of the high altar. This is Saint Hubert, Bishop of Maastricht and Liège, who died in 727. He is being moved from Liège to the newly founded abbey of Saint-Hubert-en-Ardenne, in 825. Although he has been dead 98 years, his body is in perfect condition – proof of his sainthood.
This is one of two surviving panels from a series of the life of Saint Hubert, painted for the chapel of Saint Hubert in the church of Saint Gudula in Brussels (now the cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula). It was probably commissioned when the chapel was founded in the 1430s and includes portraits of the founders and their family members in the crowd clustered around the grave.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Exhumation of Saint Hubert
- Artist
- Rogier van der Weyden and workshop
- Artist dates
- about 1399 - 1464
- Date made
- late 1430s
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 88.2 × 81.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1868
- Inventory number
- NG783
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 19th-century replica Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2011Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500The National Gallery (London)6 July 2011 - 2 October 2011
Bibliography
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1823Phillips, The Valuable Library of Books at Fonthill Abbey, London, 9 September 1823 - 31 October 1823
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1847Christie & Manson, Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of English Historical Portraits in Oil and Miniature … Also the Collection of Pictures … of Edward Harman, Esq., London, 27 May 1847 - 29 May 1847
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1888G. Redford, Art Sales: A History of Sales of Pictures and other Works and Art, with Notices of the Collections Sold, Names of Owners, Titles of Pictures, Prices and Purchasers, 2 vols, London 1888
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1906E. Beck, 'Ecclesiastical Dress in Art, VI (Conclusion)', The Burlington Magazine, VIII/34, 1906, pp. 271-81
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1907F.W. Lippmann, 'Letters to the Editor: German and Flemish Pictures in the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XII/56, 1907
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1932J. Coenen, Deux tableaux conservés à Londres et à New York provenant de Satin-Pierre à Liege, Liege 1932
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1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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1953M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
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1976R. Terner, 'Zu zwei Hubertus-Tafeln aus der Nachfolge Rogier van der Weydens in London und Malibu', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, XXXIX, 1976, pp. 245-37
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1986M. Scott, A Visual History of Costume: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, London 1986
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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1987H.J. van Miegroet, 'Between the Dream of Pope Sergius and Reality: A van der Weyden Problem of Attribution and Date', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, L/4, 1987, pp. 483-95
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1994T.J. Yankosky, Rogier van der Weyden's St. Ivo: Questions of Portraiture and Identity in Fifteenth-Century Flemish Painting, n.p. 1994
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1994L. Campbell, 'Rogier van der Weyden and His Workshop', Proceedings of the British Academy, LXXXIV, 1994, pp. 16-20
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1995I. Bähr, 'Zur Entwicklung des Altarretabels und seiner Bekrönungen vor 1475', Städel-Jahrbuch, XV, 1995, pp. 85-120
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1995S. Nash, 'A Fifteenth-Century French Manuscript and an Unknown Painting by Robert Campin', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVII/1108, 1995, pp. 428-37
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1996C. Stroo et al., The Flemish Primitives: Catalogue of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 6 vols, Brussels 1996
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1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
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1999A. Châtelet, Rogier van der Weyden (Rogier de la Pasture), Paris 1999
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1999S. Kemperdick, Rogier van der Weyden, 1399/1400-1464, Cologne 1999
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1999D. de Vos, Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works, Antwerp 1999
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1999National Gallery, Great Dutch Paintings (exh. cat. Southampton City Art Gallery, 16 April - 13 June 1999; Leeds City Art Gallery, 23 June - 29 August 1999), London 1999
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2003C. Heck, L'Art flamand et hollandais: Le siècle des primitifs, 1380-1520, Paris 2003
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2004P. Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500, New Haven 2004
Frame
This frame – probably dating to the nineteenth century – is made in the ‘Bologna’ style. The reverse profile water-gilded frame is made from pine. The decorative frieze features engraved leaf scrolls and a centred flower bud on punch-tooled background. Upon acquisition from F.C. Buck & Son in 1930, the frame was altered to incorporate a fitted glazing door and was regilded.
While the original framing of Van der Weyden’s The Exhumation of Saint Hubert remains unknown, it was probably housed in a simple frame, consistent with the surrounding red flat moulding as seen on the altar frame depicted in the painting.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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