Graphics

In the 15th-century Netherlands, drawings were not yet regarded as works of art in their own right. They were not seen as independent representations, merely as aids to the creation of a complete work which might be a painting, a sculpture, or a tapestry. Their constant use in workshops, and the fact that they were handed on from artist to artist - whether as a legacy to a painter's successors, or on loan from one master to another - led to wear and tear on the drawings themselves, so that in the end they had to be replaced, and the originals were thrown away Consequently, only a fraction of the huge number of drawings that must have existed in the stocks of Netherlandish workshops has been preserved. North of the Alps, it is not until around 1500, when Albrecht Dürer was collecting drawings by his much admired predecessor Martin Schongauer (c. 1450-1491), that any higher regard for drawings as a specific means of artistic expression, or their careful preservation and collection, can be traced.

However, no designs or sketches for any of Rogier's extant paintings have been preserved. Equally problematical is the ascription of any drawings to him. His underdrawings, carried out in another medium, for other purposes, and to a different scale, do not really allow comparisons to be made. This page will therefore look at the best and liveliest of the few dozen drawings that are close to his paintings in motif, style, or the conception of the figures. One might expect that an artist like Rogier, whose paintings display confident and sensitive drawing of form, could produce outstanding work in pen or pencil, but those criteria are not necessarily the deciding factor, since there may also have been some highly gifted draftsmen among Rogier's assistants and successors.