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Virgin and Child

A work made of oil on panel.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of oil on panel.

Date:

1485/90

Artist:

Hans Memling (Netherlandish, 1435/40–1494)

About this artwork

Hans Memling probably worked with Rogier van der Weyden in Brussels before settling in Bruges in 1465. Van der Weyden was well known for his exquisite devotional diptychs, and Memling was influenced by his work, though he made his paired paintings more realistic by setting the figures in a measurable domestic space. The portrait of the unidentified patron and the image of the Virgin and Child were separated many years ago; they were reunited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953. Unfortunately, Portrait of a Man in Prayer is in very poor condition; much better preserved is the image Saint Anthony of Padua, presumably the sitter’s patron saint, on the reverse of the portrait. The saint was painted in subdued tones of gray, in imitation of stone, a convention often used on the backs of Netherlandish altarpieces. Anthony of Padua, an important early follower of Saint Francis, was more popular in Italy, Spain and Portugal than in the Low Countries, hence the diptych may have been made for a member of the large foreign community in Bruges.

Status

On View, Gallery 202

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Hans Memling

Title

Virgin and Child

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1480–1490

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

Framed: 41.1 × 33.4 cm (16 3/16 × 13 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1050

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16295/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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