The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin

1435

The donator of this painting is Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of Burgundy and Brabant. He
established the Hôtel-Dieu hospital at Beaune where Rogier van der Weyden executed the
famous Last Judgment.

Nicolas Rolin, who commissioned this work, was a man with a forceful personality.
Despite his humble background, he was highly intelligent and eventually rose to hold the
highest offices of State. For over forty years he was Philip the Good's right-hand man,
and one of the principal architects of the monarch's success. Van Eyck painted him when
he was already in his sixties. His face, though marked by the heavy responsibilities he has
had to bear, still fascinates the viewer with the sense of energy and will-power which it
projects. Rolin is wearing a gold brocade jacket trimmed with mink. He kneels at prayer
on the left of the composition. His gaze is pensive, looking as though he has just raised
his eyes from his book of hours.

On the right is the seated figure of the Virgin. Wrapped in a voluminous red robe, she is
presenting the Infant Jesus to the chancellor while a hovering angel holds a magnificent
crown above her head. The figures have been brought together in the loggia of an
Italianate palace. The three arches through which the space opens out behind them seem
rather large in relation to their immediate surroundings. They give first onto a small
garden with lilies and roses symbolizing Mary's virtues. Slightly farther back are two
small figures, one standing at an oblique angle to the viewer and the other with his back
to us. Near them are two peacocks, symbols of immortality, but perhaps also of the pride
to which such a powerful man as Chancellor Rolin might well succumb.

The most surprising feature in this splendid picture is without doubt the townscape that
stretches out beyond the loggia. The crenellated battlements indicate that the palace is in
fact a fortress, built on the edge of an escarpment. Below, a broad meandering river with
an island in its midst flows through the heart of a city. The humbler areas of the town lie
to the left, behind Chancellor Rolin. On the right, behind the Virgin, are the wealthy
quarters, with a profusion of buildings, dominated by an imposing Gothic church.
Countless tiny figures are flocking towards this part of town, across the bridge and
through the roads and squares. Meanwhile on the river, boats are arriving and putting into
shore. It is as if all mankind, united by faith, were travelling in pilgrimage towards this
city and its cathedral. In the distance, the horizon is closed off by snow-capped mountains
under a pinky-yellow sky. In the opinion of Charles de Tolnay, this painting represents a
comprehensive vision of the entire universe.