Memling or Memlinc, Hans (häns mĕm`lĭng, –lĭngk), c.1430–1494, Flemish religious and portrait painter, b. Germany. He may have studied with Roger van der Weyden in Brussels, but after 1466 he was in Bruges, working for Flemish patrons and for the many Italian businessmen there. His religious works reflect van der Weyden's figure types, but without their religious intensity. His portraits are more original, combining accuracy of representation with imaginative and varied treatment of the backgrounds. Details, such as flowers, animals, or architecture, are often sensitively observed. An example is his accurate view of Cologne Cathedral as it was in 1489 in the background of the St. Ursula Shrine panels (Bruges). His earliest known work is a triptych of The Madonna Enthroned with Saints and Donors (1468; Duke of Devonshire Coll., Chatsworth). Important works include The Adoration of the Magi Triptych and the Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhoven (both Bruges); other pictures are in the Metropolitan Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the museums of San Diego, Houston, and Montreal.

Bibliography

See study by K. B. McFarlane (1972).

Memling, Hans

or Hans Memlinc

“Diptych with Madonna and Martin van Nieuwenhove” (left wing), oil on panel by Hans …

(born c. 1430/35, Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt am Main—died Aug. 11, 1494, Bruges) Flemish painter. He settled in Bruges in 1465 and established a large workshop that became very successful and made him one of the city's wealthiest citizens. Though somewhat derivative of the works of contemporary Flemish painters (Jan van Eyck, Dirck Bouts, Hugo van der Goes, and particularly Rogier van der Weyden), his art has great charm and a distinctive character. Memling's religious paintings and portraits of wealthy patrons (e.g., Tommaso Portinari and His Wife, c. 1468) were, and remain, enormously popular.