The painting known as the Estouteville triptych (Figs. 1 and 3) was first published in this Magazine in 1922.' Six years later it was acquired by Lord Lee of Fareham and passed with his collection into the Courtauld Institute Galleries in 1958 (bequeathed 1947), since when it has been somewhat neglected in the art-historical literature. This is surprising in view of the paucity of surviving triptychs from Northern Europe dating from around 1400, and can be explained only by the uncertainty surrounding the painting's origins.

Despite Rogier van der Weyden's stature among his contemporaries and his sustained influence over Northern European art both during his lifetime and after his death in 1464, much about his life and art remains frustratingly vague because of meagre surviving documentation and the difficulties of confirming core works among the output of his shop and many followers. One area of inquiry that may yet contribute much to a sharper definition of his artistic identity is the study of his materials and technique, especially as the information gained from the most important surviving source - the paintings themselves - may turn out to support or to contradict the assumptions and opinions that still remain the basis for most judgments concerning works in the Van der Weyden group. Such study has significantly improved the understanding of one work in particular, the Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John in the John G.Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Fig.23), which has elicited varied and sometimes directly conflicting scholarly opinions through the decades. Research carried out between 1981 and 1990 has done much to amend and consolidate our understanding of this work, settling some questions that could previously be addressed only speculatively.