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Madonna and Child with Angels

Hans Memlingafter 1479

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States

In the tradition of his Flemish predecessors, Memling's painting contains a wealth of religious meaning; it is filled with symbols which explain the importance of Christ's mission on earth. Jesus reaches out for an apple, emblem of Original Sin; his attitude of acceptance foreshadows his future sacrifice on the cross. The angel who offers the fruit of redemption is in fact dressed in a dalmatic, the liturgical vestment worn by a deacon during the solemn High Mass. Around the arch is a carved vine of grapes referring to the wine of the eucharistic rite. On the crystal and porphyry columns stand David, as an ancestor of Christ, and Isaiah, one of the prophets who foretold the Virgin Birth.


Memling adhered closely to the northern tradition in art; the format and details of the enthroned Madonna theme recall Jan van Eyck. It is believed that Memling worked in the studio of Rogier van der Weyden at Brussels before settling in Bruges; here, he adopted Rogier's angular figural types clothed in heavy, crisp drapery, but transformed the older artist's dramatic intensity into a calm and graceful elegance. The framing archway was a device used by a number of Flemish painters including Rogier. While combining various influences, Hans Memling's own tender and pious sentiment made him the most popular artist of his day in Bruges.


More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication _Early Netherlandish Painting_, which is available as a free PDF <u>https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf</u>

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  • Title: Madonna and Child with Angels
  • Creator: Hans Memling
  • Date Created: after 1479
  • Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 57.6 x 46.4 cm (22 11/16 x 18 1/4 in.) overall (panel): 58.8 x 48 cm (23 1/8 x 18 7/8 in.) framed: 86.3 x 77.4 x 11.4 cm (34 x 30 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
  • Provenance: Probably Leopold III Friedrich Franz, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau [1740-1817], Gotisches Haus, Wörlitz, near Dessau;[1] probably by inheritance to his grandson, Leopold IV Friedrich, Duke of Anhalt [1794-1871], Gotisches Haus; by inheritance to his son, Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt [1831-1904], Gotisches Haus; by inheritance to his son, Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt [1856-1918], Gotisches Haus; by inheritance to his son, Eduard Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Anhalt [1861-1918], Gotisches Haus; by inheritance to his son, Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt [1901-1947], Gotisches Haus; sold early 1927 to (Hugo Perls, Berlin);[2] sold via the Mannheimer collection, Amsterdam, to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] purchased November 1927 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 5 June 1931 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] This prince built the Gotisches Haus and its English park and was an active collector, adding early German and Netherlandish paintings to the family holdings; see C. Rost, "Der alte Nassau-Oranische Bilderschatz und sein späterer Verbleib," _Jahrbücher für Kunstwissenschaft_ 6 (1873), 52-93, esp. 78-79, listing early catalogues of the collection. The descriptions in the early catalogues of the Anhalt-Dessau collection are not sufficiently specific to identify the _Madonna and Child with Angels_. [2] According to a note on a photograph in the Friedländer archive, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague; and a letter of 23 October 1961 from Hugo Perls to the NGA (in NGA curatorial files). [3] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 120, box 265, folder 18; and transcriptions from the Duveen Brothers Records (copies and transcriptions in NGA curatorial files).
  • Rights: CC0
  • Medium: oil on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

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