Customer Reviews

Memling's Portraits

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Thought to be a pupil of the more famous Roger van der Weyden, Hans Memling was born in Seligenstadt (now Frankfurt am Main) in 1435 and flourished in his time as one of the great Flemish or Northern Renaissance painters. He died in Bruges in 1494. Though Memling painted in all the usual forms of his day - altarpieces, works for cathedrals and hospitals - he was a master of portraiture, painting faces with meticulous detail, suggesting the character of each sitter, and each glowing with life. His 'Portrait of a Man' is one of his most recognizable works, a young man in black cloak and hat sharing a gold medallion/coin with the viewer. In other portraits of old women we see the human side of the cloistered Renaissance woman.

The truly remarkable aspect of Memling's career is the vast output of works that are familiar images to us all but without the immediate name reference enjoyed by the more famous artists, This fine book, a catalogue for a traveling exhibition among the Museo Thyssen- Bornemisza, Madrid, the Groeningemuseum, Bruges, and The Frick Collection, New York, focuses solely on the portraits and in doing so allows our eyes to grow into the recognizable techniques and repeated forms that mark Memling's art. The commentary by Till-Holger Borchert, Lorne Campbell, Paula Nuttal, and Maryan Ainsworth goes far beyond the usual dry artspeak found too often in catalogues of Renaissance art and draws the reader into a deep appreciation for the extraordinary art of Hans Memling. This is a finely curated exhibition, and a brilliantly produced book from Thames & Hudson. Grady Harp, November 05