Hans Memling

Background

Hans Memling was born about 1440 in Seligenstadt, Hessen, Germany. He was a son of Hamann Momilingen and Lucka Momilingen.

Education

Hans Memling's early training probably took place in Cologne, Gemany. He then traveled to the Netherlands (about 1455–1460), where he probably trained in the workshop of the painter Rogier van der Weyden. The evidence for this association, however, is far from conclusive and doesn't prove a master-pupil relationship. Nothing further is known concerning the artist's early professional training.

Career

Hans Memling was recorded as a citizen of Bruges, the Lowlands, Belgium by 1465. He established a large shop there and executed numerous altarpieces and portraits. His pictures, including Last Judgment, were purchased by an agent of the Medici.The painter was very successful in Bruges. He owned a large stone house and by 1480 was listed among the wealthiest citizens on the city tax accounts. Two years later, Hans entered the Painters' Guild.

His earliest known painting, such as the Chatsworth Triptych, commissioned by the English lord Sir John Donne of Kidwelly in 1468, displays a surprising maturity of style. Blending a figure style derived from Rogier van der Weyden with compositional motifs and other details from Jan van Eyck, Memling created the prototype of the rational and balanced design upon which he so often relied throughout his long and active career.

In 1477, the painter created by contract an altarpiece for the gild-chapel of the booksellers of Bruges, named Scenes of the Passion of Christ. For one year from 1479, Memling painted for the Hospitallers where he was sheltered and cured after being wounded at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.

Memling's search for rational order and compositional equilibrium, however, often obscures his truly progressive outlook and the many innovations found in his work. In such early paintings as the Scenes of the Passion, Hans Memling combined a bold, panoramic vista with unprecedented narrative detail. In his most famous work, the Shrine of St. Ursula, the artist further developed this closely observed anecdotal genre. The Triptych of the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (1479) represents Memling's highest achievement as a painter.

Hans Memling revealed his originality in portraiture as well. The Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove of 1484 contains a unique elaboration of the interior setting, and the famous portrait Man with a Medal (about 1480) was the first northern figure posed entirely against a landscape background.

Achievements

• Hans Memling was a talented and prosperous painter who contributed to portraiture by his use of landscape backgrounds.
  
  Many Italian painters of the late 15th century were influenced by his portrait style. The traces of his technique can be found in Raphael's Portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni.
  
  Memling's works were purchased by such famous people as Cardinal Grimani and Cardinal Bembo at Venice, and the heads of the house of Medici at Florence.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Altar Triptych from the Lübeck Cathedral (detail)

  • The Annunciation

  • St. Jerome and the Lion

  • Madonna and Child, The Diptych of Maerten van Nieuwenhove

  • Triptych of Jan Floreins

  • The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula and Her Companions at Cologne, The Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • Virgin and Child in a Rose Garden with Two Angels

  • Adoration of the Magi: Whole Triptych

  • Scenes from the Passion of Christ (left side)

  • Christ Giving His Blessing

  • Portrait of a Man in a Landscape

  • St. Jerome

  • Triptych of the Family Moreel (closed)

  • Hell

  • Portrait of Gilles Joye

  • Altar of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist

  • John the Baptist and St. Lawrence

  • Portinari Triptych (central panel)

  • The Virgin and Child with an Angel, St. George and a Donor

  • St. Stephen

  • Portrait of a Praying Woman

  • Deposition Diptych, Descent from the Cross

  • Madonna of Jacob Floreins

  • Portrait of an Old Woman

  • Portrait of an Old Woman

  • Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels

  • Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels

  • Central panel of the Triptych of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist

  • Portrait of a Young Woman

  • Barbara de Vlaenderberch

  • Portrait of a Man

  • Crucifixion

  • Virgin Enthroned with Child and Angel

  • Portrait of a Man at Prayer before a Landscape

  • St. Veronica

  • Portrait of a Young Man before a Landscape

  • Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (left wing)

  • Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation

  • Scenes from the Life of Mary

  • St. Ursula and the Holy Virgins, the Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • Triptych of the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria (right wing)

  • Portrait of a Young Man at Prayer

  • Diptych of Jean de Cellier (detail)

  • Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (first closed position)

  • St. Andrew (left wing of a diptych, reverse)

  • Virgin and Child in a Landscape

  • The Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • Diptych of John the Baptist and St. Veronica, St. John the Baptist, the left wing

  • Resurrection

  • St. Christopher

  • Praying Donor with Saints

  • Praying Donor with St. William of Maleval

  • Granada Diptych (right wing)

  • Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine

  • St. Ursula and her Companions Landing at Cologne, the Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • Nativity

  • St. Ursula Shrine: Figures

  • The Last Judgment Triptych (central panel)

  • Christ Crowned with Thorns

  • Angel Holding an Olive Branch

  • Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (right wing)

  • St. Ursula Shrine: Medallions

  • The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

  • Triptych of Willem Moreel (left wing)

  • Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (closed)

  • Portrait of Benedetto di Tommaso Portinari

  • St. John and Veronica Diptych (reverse of the left wing)

  • Annunciation

  • St. John Altarpiece (left wing)

  • Head of Christ

  • Portrait of a Young Man

  • Virgin with the Child Reaching for his Toe

  • Portrait of a Man with an Arrow

  • The Departure of Saint Ursula from Basle, the Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • Portrait of Anthony of Burgundy

  • Virgin and Child

  • Virgin Suckling the Child

  • Altar Triptych from the Lübeck Cathedral (detail)

  • Triptych of Adriaan Reins

  • The Last Judgment Tiptych (right wing)

  • Virgin and Child with St. Anthony the Abbot and a Donor

  • The Triptych of the Resurrection (central panel)

  • Still Life with a Jug with Flowers

  • Allegory with a Virgin

  • Standing Virgin and Child

  • St. John and Veronica Diptych (reverse of the right wing)

  • The Presentation in the Temple

  • The Man of Sorrows in the Arms of the Virgin

  • Triptych of Jan Floreins (closed)

  • Portrait of a Man at a Loggia

  • Triptych of the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria (inker wing)

  • Portrait of an Old Man

  • Triptych of Jan Crabbe

  • Marriage of St. Catherine

  • Man of Sorrows

  • Triptych of Adriaan Reins (closed)

  • Triptych of Willem Moreel (right wing)

  • The Donne Triptych

  • Portraits of Willem Moreel and His Wife

  • Church of Santa Maria la Real triptych (left hand panel)

  • Portrait of Jacques of Savoy

  • St. John Altarpiece

  • Mater Dolorosa

  • St. John Altarpiece

  • Portrait of a Reading Man

  • Tommaso Portinari and his Wife

  • Diptych with the Deposition

  • The Triptych of Willem Moreel (middle panel)

  • Portrait of a Man Holding a Coin of the Emperor Nero

  • The Archangel Michael

  • Madonna and Child with Angels

  • Diptych of Jean de Cellier (detail)

  • Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation (central panel)

  • The Passion

  • Altar Triptych from the Lübeck Cathedral (detail)

  • Virgin and Child

  • Reliquary of St. Ursula (detail)

  • Triptych of the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria (detail))

  • Man with a Black Cap

  • Portrait of Benedetto Portinari

  • St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalen

  • The Reliquary of St. Ursula

  • The Mourning Virgin with St. John and the Pious Women from Galilee

  • Young Man at Prayer

  • Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Musical Angels

  • Bathsheba in the Bath

  • Portrait of Jacob Obrecht

  • Portrait of a Young Woman

  • Allegorical Representation of Two Horses and a Monkey

  • St. Ursula Shrine: Virgin and Child

  • Portrait of a Man

  • Church of Santa Maria la Real, Najera (central panel)

  • Virgin and Child with Musician Angels

  • The Last Judgment Triptych (right wing)

  • The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian

  • Virgin and Child Enthroned

  • Deposition (left wing of a diptych)

  • Adam and Eve

Connections

Hans Memling married Anna de Valkenaere sometime between 1470 and 1480. The family produced three children named Neelkin, Chaykin, and Hannekin. Memling's wife died in 1487.

Father:

Hamann Momilingen

Mother:

Lucka Momilingen

Spouse:

Anna de Valkenaere

Half-brother:

Konrad Appel

Half-brother:

Claus Appel

Son:

Neelkin Memling

Son:

Chaykin Memling

Son:

Hannekin Memling

References

• Early Flemish Painting The book by Margaret Dickens Whinney.
  1968
• Hans Memling: The Complete Works Encompassing the entire range of his work, the book contains a complete catalogue of the art, with each work reproduced in colour, and accompanied by detailed notes and analysis. A comprehensive biographical essay incorporating the latest research covers each period of Memling's life, setting him in the context of his own time and providing information on his most important contemporaries and predecessors.
  1994
• Memling in Bruges The book consists of concise explanatory texts and dozens of high-quality illustrations which bring to life the splendour, infinite variety and exceptional eloquence of the Hans Memling paintings in Bruges. The genius of this most famous of all Flemish Primitives, simultaneously a master of tradition and a brilliant innovator, is revealed in often surprising detail.
  2007
• Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece The book accompanied the first museum exhibition to explore one of Memling's masterpieces, the Triptych of the Crucifixion, in context.
  2016
• Hans Memling in the Hospital of St. John Bruges The book contains a detailed history and analysis of various works found in the Hospital of St. John in Bruges, various triptychs, the Shrine of St. Ursula, the portrait of Sibylla Sambetha, another diptych and also contains a very well researched bibliography of other reference works.
  1984