St Luke Drawing the Virgin, a masterpiece by the Dutch painter
Rogier van der Weyden made in the 15th century, depicts St. Luke the
Evangelist sketching the Virgin Mary as she nurses the Child Jesus. The painting
is unusually rich in details, as the figures are inside an upper-class parlor
that leads toward a courtyard, river, town, and landscape – a scene not even
possible in movies. Despite a lot of that, the scene is perfectly balanced. Scholars
believe that the painter made the painting not only to depict the artist’s
adoration to the Madonna and a salute to St. Luke (patron saint of painters),
but also to boast his own skill in composition and design.
