interest; none of them, however, affecting the main features

of our history.

Respecting the parentage of Roger, no certain result has been produced by the most diligent investigation; but it is proved beyond a doubt, that the name of Van der Weyden was an old and honourable one in the fifteenth century-several members of a family so called being mentioned in cotemporary records as natives of Brussels, or residents in the Duchy of Brabant. It has also been ascertained that a painter called Roegere Van Brusele lived at Ghent, in the early part of the fifteenth century; being mentioned in the accounts of the commune for the years 1410 to 1415, and affiliated to the corporation of St. Luke in 1414. This Roegere Van Brusele, whose death took place before 1417, is supposed to have been some relative of Roger Van der Weyden.1

The period at which the latter became resident at Brussels can be traced at present as far back as 1425, at which time he was married and settled, and had a son, This child, named Cornelius, was not brought up to his father's profession, but commenced his studies at the College of Porc, in the University of Louvain, and finally took the cowl at the Carthusians of Herinne, near Enghien. Roger Van der Weyden endowed that establishment with a sum of 400 crowns, on the occasion of his son's vows; and Cornelius spent a peaceful life amongst the brethren, dying in the odour of sanctity, aged fortyeight, in October, 1473.2

1 Wauters (A.), Roger Van der Weyden, ses œuvres apud "Revue Universelle des Arts," Sep. 1855 to Feb. 1856.

2 This appears, from a passage in the "Chronicon domûs capella

In addition to the works of Van der Weyden already noticed at length, Mr. Wauters mentions the following:"In 1439, Philip of Burgundy having commissioned for the church of the Récollets, at Brussels, a piece of sculpture, of white stone, representing the Virgin and two princesses of Brabant, Mary, wife of John III., and her daughter, Mary, Duchess of Gueldres, Roger Van der Weyden was chosen to colour these sculptures, for the sum of forty ridders of fifty gros of Flanders; and, for the additional sum of six livres, to paint the arms of the Duke Philip and the Duchess on the wooden doors, or wings, which protected the sculptures." From this it would appear that the great masters of the later period of Belgian art did not disdain to practise the merely mechanical portions of the art, after the fashion of the Malouels, Jehan de Hasselt, and others.

Another production of Van der Weyden, hitherto unknown, is mentioned as follows :-" Of old, the Carmelite Convent of Brussels contained a picture remarkable for its age and beauty. It represented the Virgin and the Infant Christ, above whom two angels supported a crown formed of stars on the wings, on one side were monks; on the other, a knight of the order of the Golden Fleece, and ordinis Carthusiensis juxta Angiam (Enghien)," written by Arnould Beelthen, of Thollembeck :-"Dominus Cornelius de Pascua, de Bruxellâ, monachus domûs hujus et filius magistri Rogerii, pictoris egregii." "Anno eodem (1473), obiit in Octobri, in die fidei Virginis, dominus Cornelius de Pascuis de Bruxellâ, filius magistri Rogerii de Pascuis, egregii illius pictoris: Iste fuit monachus professus circiter viginti quatuor annis; ante ingressum ordinis fuerat magister artium promotus Lovanii in Porco. Hic juvenis obiit circiter quadraginta octo annorum et ex parte ejus domûs hæc à patri et matre ipsius habuit plusquàm quadringenta coronas."-Chronicon, f. 16-41.

his family. This picture had been painted in 1446, by one Roger." The Calvinists damaged it in 1581, and it was restored in 1593.

It may not be unnecessary, in order to complete what remains to be said of Roger Van der Weyden, to notice that two Belgian cities now claim him as a child of their own-Louvain and Tournay.

Mr. Ruelens, of Louvain, lately discovered a manuscript, written previously to the year 1470, by one Molanus, which contains the following:

"Magister Rogerius, civis et pictor Lovaniensis, depinxit Lovanii, ad S. Petrum altare Edelheer, et in capellâ beatæ Mariæ summum altare, quod opus Maria Regina à sagittariis impetravit, et in Hispania vehi curavit, quamquam in mari periisse dicatur, et ejus loco dedit capella quingentorum florenorum organa et novum altare ad exemplar Rogerii expressum, opera Michaelis Coxenii Mechliniensis, sui pictoris. Ejus quoque artificii sunt testes picturæ que Bruxellensæ tribunal de recto Themidis ceder ecalle vetant. Dominicus Lampsonius."

We have had occasion to mention Van der Weyden's "Crucifixion," painted for the church of Notre Dame,“ hors les murs," at Louvain-expressing, at the same time, our inability to state at what period he painted there. We find, in the quotation just made, a reference to a picture in a different part of Louvain, of which, however, it is stated, as it has been of the "Crucifixion," that the Regent Mary obtained it and sent it to Spain, giving in its stead a new altar-piece, copied from that of Roger, and an organ worth 1,500 florins. We might be led to infer, from this similarity of the details, that the different authorities

quoted allude to the same picture. Mr. Wauters expresses this doubt;1 and contests the assertion of the writer, that Roger Van der Weyden was "a citizen and painter of Louvain." It is clear, as far as historical proof is of value in deciding such a question, that there can be no doubt of the authenticity of the documents which prove that Van der Weyden was a citizen and painter of Brussels. May he not have been a citizen of Louvain-yet a native of Brussels?

Tournay, also, claims to be Roger Van der Weyden's birthplace. Mr. Genart, in the Register of the Guild of St. Luke, at Tournay, found the following:—

"Rogelet de la Pasture, native of Tournay, commenced his apprenticeship on the 5th of March, 1426; and his master was Master Robert Campin, painter, with whom Rogelet duly finished his apprenticeship."

Elsewhere:

"Master Rogier de la Pasture, native of Tournay, was received into the freedom of the trade of painters on the 1st day of August, 1432."

There are apparently valid reasons for believing that this Roger de la Pasture, of Tournay, is not Roger Van der Weyden, of Brussels.

Roger Van der Weyden is supposed to have had other children besides Cornelius; but there is no present certainty of this. The documents on which Mr. Wauters founds his belief in the existence of a large family of Van der

1 We may here remark that there are two copies of the "Descent from the Cross," one at the Madrid Museum, the other in the Escurial, the latter, as we learn from Florent le Comte (vol. ii. p. 202), was taken to Spain by Philip II. See supra, the "Life of Van der Weyden."

Weyden, are taken from the various accounts of the town of Brussels, from which the following facts are derived.

Twenty years previous to his death, Roger Van der Weyden owned a house at Brussels, in the Rue de l'Empereur, and part of a neighbouring tenement, forming the corner of the Montagne de la Cour. The latter property was rated to the poor of the parish of St. Gudule for a sum of forty-eight livres, half of which was paid off between the years 1444 and 1465 in the name of Roger the Painter (Meester Rogier, scildere). The account-books from which these details are drawn, sometimes contain the word aldair, which signifies that Roger lived in the house; at other times only the painter's family name, and call him Meester Roger Van der Weyden. In the year 1443, the wife of William de Heersele paid this rate; after the death of Roger Van der Weyden, viz. from 1466 to 1491, and from 1494 to 1498, the payment was made by her sons, who are called Meesters Rogiers oer Van der Weyden. In 1492-93, however, it was made by Peter Van der Weyden ; and from 1499 to 1539, by a person of the same name, qualified as master, who was succeeded by the widow of John Walravens.

Peter Van der Weyden, who paid the rate of 1492-93, is supposed by Mr. Wauters to be the son of Roger Van der Weyden, as other documents are in existence to prove that he lived and was married, as far back as 1484. The second Peter Van der Weyden is supposed to be a grandson of Roger, and son of the first Peter. There is no doubt that he was a painter, because he is mentioned in the accounts of 1511, as proprietor of the house in the Cantersteen, and described as "portrateur," and noted.