Traces of Van der Weyden in the paintings of Bernart de Aras, “artist resident in Huesca”

Abstract

In 1461, the Aragonese painter Bernart de Aras was commissioned to paint an altarpiece for the small church of Pompién (Huesca). This altarpiece, completed two years later, could still be seen in its original location in 1936. Today, only four panels from the retable are preserved in the storerooms of the Museu d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. The central panel consists of a Madonna Enthroned with Child. Both of these figures clearly reflect the artist’s familiarity with the Madonna Durán, one of Rogier van der Weyden’s (1399/ 1400-1464) most famous pictures, now hanging in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. Therefore, it can be claimed that Rogier’s work was already known in Spain during his lifetime.