Virgin and Childc. 1485
Hans Memling painted this in about 1485, aged about 50. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago. More about this work
About this work
A work made of oil on panel.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Hans Memling painted this in about 1485, aged about 50. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil on panel
- Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Hans Memling
Netherlandish, c. 1430–1494 · Died in Bruges.
Memling, born in Germany, probably trained in Brussels with Rogier van der Weyden before settling in Bruges in 1465, where he became the city’s leading painter. His calm, balanced altarpieces and devotional panels found eager patrons among the Italian merchants and bankers based there, such as Tommaso Portinari, agent of the Medici bank, whom he painted with his wife Maria. His portraits, often set against landscapes, influenced painters in Italy.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Renaissance
European art from about 1400 to 1600, when painters rediscovered perspective and the classical past.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1933.1050
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
