Bladelin Triptych

Rogier van der Weyden's Bladelin Triptych, painted around 1450 and now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, was commissioned by Pieter Bladelin, a wealthy Bruges financier who founded the town of Middelburg in Flanders. The central panel shows the Nativity with the donor, while the wings depict the Emperor Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl, and the three Magi being guided by the star. Bladelin's prominent inclusion reflects the patron's ambition to be permanently associated with the sacred narrative.

Rogier renders the triptych with characteristic precision, using elaborate architectural settings and carefully staged figures, with the donor portrait showing the same meticulous attention to physiognomy that he brought to his independent portrait commissions.