The Virgin Mary is shown with her child in a Bruges parlour circa 1487. The open window looks out over a Flemisch landscape. Maarten van Nieuwenhove sits in the same room. The inscription tells us that he had his portrait painted at hte age of 23 in 1487: HOC OPUS FIERI FECIT MARTINUS DE NEWENHOVEN ANNO DM 1487 ANO VERO ETATIS SUE 23. The serene and regal Madonna forms a triangle inscribed within the rectangle of the panel a device through which Memling turns her into a stylised image an icon. She answers the idea of beauty that we find throughout his oeuvre.
Flemish art and heritage collections, in great detail