The painting “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin” by Rogier van der Weyden is an exemplary sample of artwork from the Northern Renaissance. Rogier van der Weyden was a Northern Renaissance artist who took inspiration from other masters like Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin. Van der Weyden shows mastery of the oil medium with a focus on his figures, his skillful ability to create a narrative painting and his novel and adept naturalism. 

The vast background of the painting allows a view into a modern-day city in Flanders. Then turning to the interior scene, it feels narrow, and although this interior portrait contains a plethora of defined details, it does not feel miniature or compacted because the viewer is invited to look beyond the intimate biblical moment in the forefront to the expansive outside world. The pictorial composition is deliberately created to guide the onlooker through the narrative. 

In the foreground of the painting, the viewers are immediately presented with the key characters of this painting: the Virgin Mary, Jesus and Saint Luke. The composition then allows an opening into the outside world from the interior point of view, creating an illusion of expansive distance. Beyond the room where the event is taking place, we see an enclosed garden — a common theme associated with the Virgin — and two small figures in the very center midground of the painting. Placing these unknown observers in the courtyard at a lower position than the raised appearance of the main figures, van der Weyden creates a flawless transition into the outside world, naturally steering the viewers’ eyes in the direction of the onlookers. 

The figures are situated logically to suggest proper proportions within the space. Mary and Saint Luke are the figures in the foreground, placed on both sides of the composition, while the two more miniature figures balance the space in the midground and center of the scene. The composition of this painting focuses on placing these two largest figures to split the painting symmetrically. There is a focus on symmetry throughout the painting, as there are two columns placed in the backdrop to create a more deliberate separation between Luke and the otherworldly Christ child and Mary.

The emphasis of this painting focuses on naturalistic lighting rather than a gothic and dramatic style of lighting. Van der Weyden demonstrates his abilities with the oil medium, and the brush strokes are meticulously small to create a blended and seamless painting, bringing the scene to life. The color palette is more subdued than previous representations from early periods, as the blue of Mary’s dress appears less artificial than in the previous works of artists like Giotto or Cimabue. This palette is meant to be naturalistic, a key feature of this period. 

The color choices made by van der Weyden are deliberately chosen to express the thematic goals of the work. The Virgin Mary wears her traditional deep blue, however, it is covert and not gaudy as the entirety of the garment is not a one noted shade. Saint Luke on the other hand is adorned with a bright and opulent red garment that drapes over his body. There is also the detailed gold cloth in the background, showing a detailed and masterful use of paint to create a luxurious and silky texture. The use of colors is elegant and refined, and van der Weyden steers away from a garish color palette to contribute to a more naturalistic scene. 

In regards to the lighting of the painting, there is not a shadowy or smokey layer added to create intense lighting. Instead, we see a closed-off interior which is backlit by the exterior natural lighting coming from outside. An aerial perspective is also used in creating a backdrop that is less precise than the foreground. The interior scene also suggests Van der Weyden’s mastery of architectural symmetry and accuracy in creating a space that is linear and exact, showing off the use of mathematical calculations to create naturalism. 

Naturalism in this work is also pervasive when looking at the expressions of the figures. First, Saint Luke is ruminative and deeply engrossed in the task of painting his subjects. Mary tenderly looks upon Jesus as she feeds him. He is painted as a high-spirited and endearing infant, wriggling in his mother’s arms, and his life force is captured superbly by van der Weyden.

When looking at earlier works from van der Weyden’s predecessors like Robert Campin, in whose workshop van der Weyden had worked, there are patterns that show up as constants of the era. In Campin’s Annunciation Triptych, the middle panel features the archangel Gabriel about to deliver the news to Mary that she will become pregnant with Jesus. In this painting, we also see a detailed approach to creating a religious scene that is happening in a modern-day, earthly setting. While Campin’s work is laden with detailed and precise brushwork and highly specific religious symbolism, van der Weyden creates a more naturalistic state of being in his figures. Van der Weyden masters the attentive and realistic expressions of his figures to make the holy characters feel more tangibly real than Campin is able to.

This painting also conforms to some of the elements that artist Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise “De Pictura” considers essential for creating a narrative painting or a “Historia” painting. Alberti outlines all of the components that make art truly good. One focus he points out is a figure in the Historia painting which is purposely inserted into the painting in a meta way to inform the viewer of how they are meant to interpret the scene. In this painting, van der Weyden places himself within the painting as Saint Luke himself. In biblical tradition Saint Luke was the first to paint the Virgin and Jesus, so he was the patron saint of artists and often of painters’ guilds. By making Saint Luke a self-portrait van der Weyden commemorates himself as a virtuoso artist whose craft is invaluable, another theme outlined in “De Pictura.”

The distinct style of van der Weyden is apparent throughout this artwork as well as the distinctive style of the early Northern Renaissance. During this period in the prosperous cities of Northern Europe, artists gravitated towards a more extensive form of realism than ever before. Representing the innate and unaffected contemporary world was a popular trend. With the prevailing of realism also came the preeminence of extremely detailed works of art, with methodical brush strokes and intricate devotional imagery. 

The Northern Renaissance also tended towards this devotional imagery being more naturalistic to convey that the transcendental and sacred are undisputedly involved in earthly life. The focuses and tendencies of this period is exemplified in van der Weyden’s “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin,” making it a quintessential representation of the early Northern Renaissance artistic movement. This painting is a prime example of the artistic advances made during this period in creating more naturalistic and detailed work than ever before.