# St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [WEYDEN, Rogier van der]() - Date: 1401-1450 - Technique: Oil on canvas transferred from wood ## Commentary St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna \(detail\) - Oil on canvas transferred from wood The Hermitage, St. Petersburg According to legend, St Luke the Evangelist was also the first Christian painter, and had painted the Virgin Mary from life. As a consequence he was the patron saint of painters, and in many towns and cities was regarded as patron of their guilds. As a result, most of the major pictures of St Luke were destined for the altars of these communities; Rogier's painting was probably an altarpiece for the Brussels guild. The depiction of the saintly artist was of course also likely to be a self portrait of the contemporary painter, particularly when the panel was for so prominent a place as the altar of the guild. It expresses the artist's sense of his professional and personal dignity, and it is no coincidence that Rogier's St Luke resembles those portraits of the painter himself that have come down to us, though with idealized features. ## Related artworks - [Abegg Triptych]() - [Annunciation]() - [Annunciation Triptych]() - [Bladelin Triptych \(central panel\)]() - [Bladelin Triptych \(exterior\)]() - [Bladelin Triptych \(left wing\)]() - [Bladelin Triptych]() - [Bladelin Triptych \(right wing\)]() - [Braque Family Triptych \(central panel\)]() - [Braque Family Triptych \(closed\)]() - [Braque Family Triptych \(detail\)]() - [Braque Family Triptych \(left wing\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()