Hans Memling

Born circa 1440, in Seligenstadt, Hesse; died Aug. 11, 1494, in Bruges. Flemish painter.

Memling may have studied with Rogier van der Weyden. From 1465 he worked in Bruges. His works are distinguished by their serenity and clear colors. The religious scenes are reminis-cent of genre paintings of the burghers’ milieu (for example, the Chatsworth Triptych showing the Virgin and Child with the saints and donors [those who commissioned the painting], 1468, the National Gallery in London; and the panels for the St. Ursula shrine, 1489, Memling Museum, Bruges). However, in his works Memling somewhat rigidified the techniques of old Netherlandish painting. This dogmatic approach is particularly evi-dent in The Last Judgment, in which the artist achieved some monumentally of image (c. 1473, altar of the Church of the Virgin Mary, Gdansk). An especially noteworthy work is Bathsheba, a life-sized female nude, a rare subject in Flemish painting (c. 1485, Museum of Baden-Wiirtemberg, Stuttgart). In Memling’s portraits, most of which depict his patrons, the humanistic elements of his art are most clearly revealed.

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