The Seven Sacraments

Rogier van der Weyden's Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, painted around 1440 and now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, is a monumental triptych depicting all seven Catholic sacraments performed simultaneously within a Gothic cathedral interior. The central panel shows the Crucifixion placed dramatically in the nave, while the sacraments are administered in the side aisles. The patron was Jean de Chevrot, Bishop of Tournai and Chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Rogier creates a unified architectural space spanning all three panels with remarkable perspectival coherence, using the soaring Gothic interior to organize the multiple narrative scenes while maintaining emotional focus on the central Crucifixion.