The Seven Sacraments (central panel)

The central panel of the Seven Sacraments triptych shows the Crucifixion at the center of the Gothic church, with the sacrament of the Eucharist being celebrated at the high altar below — a theological program asserting that Christ's historical sacrifice on Calvary is made perpetually present through the Mass. This equation of the Crucifixion with the Eucharist was the defining theological claim of Catholic sacramentalism that the triptych was designed to illustrate for its patron, Bishop Jean Chevrot of Tournai. Rogier van der Weyden combined exquisite emotional intensity with compositional clarity, making him the most influential Flemish painter of the mid-fifteenth century. The towering crucified Christ dominating the church interior, with the perspective converging at the altar below the cross, creates a powerful visual link between the historical sacrifice and its liturgical re-presentation.

The towering crucified Christ dominates the church interior, his cross rising to the apex of the Gothic vault. The perspective converges at the altar below the cross, creating a powerful visual link between sacrifice and sacrament.