Goswijn van der Weyden (c.1465-c.1538)

St Catherine and the Philosophers

Goswijn van der Weyden was born into a family of artists. His grandfather was Rogier van der Weyden one of the leading painters of the early Flemish Renaissance. Goswijn trained with his father before establishing his own workshop in Antwerp. Although Goswijn never met Rogier he was greatly influenced by his grandfather's work.

This triptych, painted around 1510, shows St Catherine successfully arguing against the pagan philosophers of Emperor Maxentius who is seated on the right. The frieze at the top tells the rest of Catherine's story including her pleading against the burning of Christians, her imprisonment and the failed attempt to break her on a wheel. Flemish artists had a particular interest in creating an illusion of three-dimensions and Goswijn uses the receding buildings and distant landscape to create a sense of depth and scale.

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