Hans Memling

Hans Memling painted serene religious scenes and portraits of great clarity and calm. His colours are clear and jewel like, his faces gentle and composed, and his backgrounds open onto delicate landscapes with winding roads and distant towns.

He was born around 1430 in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt, and probably trained in Brussels with Rogier van der Weyden. In 1465 he became a citizen of Bruges and ran a busy workshop there, painting for merchants, clergy and nobility, including Italian bankers living in the city. His great Last Judgement triptych is in the National Museum in Gdańsk, and the Old St John’s Hospital in Bruges keeps several of his finest works, including the Shrine of St Ursula. His paintings also hang in the National Gallery in London, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In Angel Musicians and the Adoration of the Magi, look at the fine detail of brocades, instruments and hands.