The Exhumation of Saint Hubert

This painting of the Exhumation of Saint Hubert, now in the National Gallery London, depicts the legendary discovery of the saint's incorrupt body when the Bishop of Liège authorized the opening of his tomb — a miracle confirming Hubert's sanctity and justifying his veneration. The subject was of particular significance in the Burgundian Netherlands, where Hubert was venerated as patron of hunters and the powerful Counts of Flanders maintained close connections to his cult. Rogier van der Weyden combined exquisite emotional intensity with compositional clarity, making him the most influential Flemish painter of the mid-fifteenth century. The ceremony staged with careful attention to ecclesiastical ritual and rich vestments demonstrates his ability to organize complex multi-figure compositions into readable narrative sequences of great formal dignity.

The ceremony is staged with careful attention to ecclesiastical ritual and the rich vestments of the participants. Rogier's compositional clarity organizes multiple figures in a readable narrative sequence.