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Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso)

Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.

Date:

1460/64

Artist:

Rogier van der Weyden and Workshop
Netherlandish, c. 1399–1464

About this artwork

This portrait once formed one half of a folding, portable diptych. The sitter—identifiable through his coat of arms, personal motto, and initials on the back of the panel—is Jean Gros, an administrator to the future duke of Burgundy. His prayerful gaze was originally directed at another panel with an image of Mary and the infant Jesus, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tournai, Belgium. Gros’s coat of arms is on the back of that panel as well.

This type of diptych, which was intended to suggest continuous prayer and to record the donor’s features, was probably first made for princes around 1400. Rogier van der Weyden revitalized the portrait tradition in the mid-15th century, creating similar diptychs for patrons at the highest level of the Burgundian court. In commissioning one for himself, Gros was displaying his ambition and his close associations with the court.

Status

On View, Gallery 202

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Rogier van der Weyden

Title

Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso)

Place

Flanders (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1460–1464

Medium

Oil on panel

Inscriptions

Inscribed: Reverse: coat of arms of Jean Gros,1 GRACES . A DIEV. (on banderole), JG (flanking escutcheon)

Dimensions

38.5 × 28.8 cm (15 3/16 × 11 3/8 in.); Painted surface: 36.5 × 27 cm (14 3/8 × 10 5/8 in.); Reverse: 39 × 28.8 cm (15 3/8 × 11 3/8 in.); Reverse painted surface: 36.8 × 26.7 cm (14 1/2 × 10 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1051a-b

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16298/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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