Hans Memling La Vierge et l Enfant entre Saint Jacques et Saint Dominique 1488 1490

Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

region and probably spent his childhood in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. He moved to the Netherlands and spent time in the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

workshop of

Rogier van der Weyden Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...

. He was subsequently made a citizen of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

in 1465, where he became one of the leading artists, running a large workshop, which painted religious works that often incorporated donor portraits of his wealthy patrons. Memling's patrons included

burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...

s (bankers, merchants, and politicians), clergymen, and aristocrats. Memling's portraits built upon the styles that he learned in his youth. He became very successful, and in 1480 was listed among the wealthiest citizens in a city tax list. He married Anna de Valkenaere sometime between 1470 and 1480, and they had three children. Memling's art was rediscovered in the 19th century, attaining wide popularity.

Life and works

Born in

Seligenstadt Seligenstadt is a town in the Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Seligenstadt is one of Germany's oldest towns and was already of great importance in Carolingian times. Geography Location Seligenstadt ...

, Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1963) ''The Art of the Renaissance''. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 156. near

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

in the Middle Main region, Memling served his

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and later worked in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

under

(c. 1455–1460) in

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

. He then worked at

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Yp ...

by 1465.

He painted for the

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

in 1479 and 1480. In 1477, when he was believed dead, he was under contract to create an altarpiece for the gild-chapel of the booksellers of Bruges. This altarpiece, ''

Scenes of the Passion of Christ ''Scenes from the Passion of Christ'' is an oil painting on a panel of Baltic oak, painted c.1470 by German-born Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling. The painting shows 23 vignettes of the ''Life of Christ'' combined in one narrative comp ...

'', is now in the

Galleria Sabauda The Galleria Sabauda is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86. The museum, whose first directors were Rober ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

. '' The Last Judgment'', which had been in Gdańsk since 1473 is now in the National Museum there. ''The Last Judgment'' was commissioned by Angelo Tani, erstwhile director of the Bruges branch of the

Medici Bank The Medici Bank (Italian: ''Banco dei Medici'' ) was a financial institution created by the Medici family in Italy during the 15th century (1397–1494). It was the largest and most respected bank in Europe during its prime. There are some estima ...

, for a chapel at what is now the Badia Fiesolana in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

. When the triptych is closed Tani and his wife are shown kneeling in prayer. It was shipped to Fiesole on a vessel that was captured by Danzig privateer

Paul Beneke Paul Beneke, also Paul Benecke, (early 1400s (decade) – c. 1480) was a German town councillor of Danzig and a privateer. Life During the Anglo-Hanseatic War, Beneke overpowered an English fleet at Zween in 1468. When Beneke was commissioned by L ...

in April 1473. The oldest allusions to pictures connected to Memling point to his relations with the Burgundian court, which was held in Brussels. The inventories of Margaret of Austria, drawn up in 1524, allude to a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

of the ''God of Pity'' by

, of which the wings containing angels were painted by "Master Hans". Memling's painting of John the Baptist (c. 1470) is in the gallery of Munich. He painted the ''Last Judgment'' in Gdańsk. Memling's portraits, in particular, were popular in Italy. According to Paula Nuttall, Memling's distinctive contribution to portraiture was his use of landscape backgrounds, characterized by "a balanced counterpoint between top and bottom, foreground and background: the head offset by the neutral expanse of sky, and the neutral area of the shoulders enlivened by the landscape detail beyond". Memling's portrait style influenced the work of numerous late-15th-century Italian painters, and is evident in works such as

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

's '' Portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni''. Purchasers of his paintings include Cardinal Grimani and Cardinal Bembo at

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, and the heads of the

House of Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

Other paintings include the ''Madonna and Saints'' (which passed from the Duchatel collection to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

), the ''Virgin and Child'' (painted for

Sir John Donne Sir John Donne (c.1420s – January 1503) was a Welsh courtier, diplomat and soldier, a notable figure of the Yorkist party. In the 1470s he commissioned the ''Donne Triptych'', a triptych altarpiece by Hans Memling now in the National Galle ...

and now at the National Gallery, London), and the four attributed portraits in the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

(including the '' Portrait of Folco Portinari''), the ''

Scenes from the Passion of Christ ''Scenes from the Passion of Christ'' is an oil painting on a panel of Baltic oak, painted c.1470 by German-born Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling. The painting shows 23 vignettes of the ''Life of Christ'' combined in one narrative comp ...

'' in the

of Turin and the '' Advent and Triumph of Christ'' Around 1492, Memling was commissioned to paint the Najera Altarpiece for the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Monastery of Santa Maria la Real in Najera, Rioja, Spain. The altarpiece, which was completed in Flanders, consisted of an image of God surrounded by angels playing a variety of musical instruments while atop a row of clouds before a golden background. Recent scholarship by Bart Fransen has determined that Gonzalo de Cabredo and Abbot Pablo Martinez commissioned the creation of this artwork. Memling became sufficiently prosperous that his name appears on a list of the 875 richest citizens of Bruges who were obligatory subscribers to the loan raised by

Maximilian I of Austria Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself Ele ...

, to finance hostilities towards France in 1480. Memling's name does not appear on subsequent subscription lists of this type. In his later years, he painted the Shrine of St Ursula in the museum of the hospital of Bruges, ''St Christopher and Saints'' (1484) in the academy, the '' Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove'' in the hospital of Bruges, and a large ''Crucifixion,'' with scenes from the Passion, (1491) from the

Lübeck Cathedral Lübeck Cathedral (german: Dom zu Lübeck, or colloquially ''Lübecker Dom'') is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of the Lübeck World Heritage Site. It was started in 1173 by Henry the Lion as a cathedral for ...

(Dom) of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, now in Lübeck's '' St. Annen Museum''. Near the close of Memling's career, the registers of the

painters' guild The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ident ...

at Bruges give the names of two apprentices who served their time with Memling and paid dues on admission to the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

in 1480 and 1486. He died in Bruges. The trustees of his will appeared before the court of wards at Bruges on 10 December 1495, and records indicate Memling left behind several children and considerable property.

Gallery

File:Hans Memling - The Man of Sorrows in the arms of the Virgin - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Man of Sorrows in the arms of the Virgin'', 1475,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

File:Christ Giving His Blessing.jpg, ''Christ Giving His Blessing'', 1478,

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Si ...

File:Hans Memling - Mater Dolorosa - WGA14917.jpg, ''Mater Dolorosa'', c. 1480,

File:Hans Memling - Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels - WGA14935.jpg, ''Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels'', c. 1480

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp ( Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth ...

File:Hans memling, annunciazione, 1480-89 ca. 02.JPG, '' Annunciation'', 1480–89,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Hans Memling - Allegory with a Virgin - WGA14896.jpg, ''Allegory with a Virgin'', 1479–80 File:Hans Memling - Portrait of Tommaso di Folco Portinari (ca. 1470).jpg, Hans Memling - Portrait of Tommaso di Folco Portinari (ca. 1470) File:Hans Memmling - Maria Portinari (ca. 1470).jpg, '' Portrait of Maria Portinari'', c. 1475 File:Hans Memling 043.jpg, '' Portrait of Barbara van Vlaendenbergh'', c. 1470 File:0 Diptyque de Jan du Cellier - Hans Memlig - RF 309 - Louvre 1.JPG, ''Diptych of Jean de Cellier'', c. 1490 File:Memling Triptych of Family Moreel.jpg, ''Moreel Triptych'', 1484, Groeningemuseum, Brugge File:Hans Memling 056.jpg,

Seven Joys of the Virgin The Seven Joys of the Virgin (or of Mary, the Mother of Jesus) is a popular devotion to events of the life of the Virgin Mary, arising from a trope of medieval devotional literature and art. The Seven Joys were frequently depicted in medieval ...

– a ''

Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the ...

'' cycle on a single panel (1480). Altogether 25 scenes, not all involving the Virgin, are depicted,

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...

, MunichAlte Pinakotek, Munich; (Summary Catalogue – various authors), pp. 348-51, 1986, Edition Lipp,

Memling carpets

There are four works by Memling that feature an oriental carpet. They are the ''triptych with the Virgin and Child Enthroned'' (Vienna Kunsthistoriches Museum), the ''triptych of John Donne'' (London National Gallery), the ''Virgin and Child Enthroned with a large family'' (Paris, Louvre), and the ''Portrait of a young man at prayer'' (Madrid Fundacion Coleccion Thyssen- Bornedmisza). They all feature an indefinitely repeated pattern that is representative of an archaic strand of ornamentation in Turkoman carpets from

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

. This type of carpet is named after Memling and is known as

Memling carpet Oriental carpet, Carpets of Middle-Eastern origin, either from Turkish carpet, Anatolia, Persian carpet, Persia, Armenian carpet, Armenia, Azerbaijani rug, Azerbaijan, the Levant, the Mamluk state of Egypt or Northern Africa, were used as decora ...

s. They are characterized by guls with "hooked" lines radiating from a central body.

References and sources

;References ;Sources * * Batari, Ferenc (1994). ''The "Memling" carpets'' in de Vos, Dirk, editor (1994). ''Essays Hans Memling''. Essay bundle published with the catalogue of the exhibit ''Hans Memling, vijf eeuwen werkelijkheid en fictie'' in the Groeningen Museum, Brugge August 12 - November 15, 1994. *

External links

*
Hans Memling on BALaT - Belgian Art Links and Tools (KIK-IRPA, Brussel)

''Petrus Christus: Renaissance master of Bruges''

''Fifteenth- to eighteenth-century European paintings: France, Central Europe, the Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britain''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memling, Hans 1430s births 1494 deaths People from Seligenstadt German painters German male painters Early Netherlandish painters Arts in the court of Philip the Good

Life and works

Gallery

Memling carpets

See also

References and sources

Further reading

External links