Last Judgment Triptych by Hans Memling
Interpretation, Analysis and Meaning
of Flemish Altarpiece
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Last Judgment Triptych by Hans Memling
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The Last Judgment Triptych (c.1471)Contents • Description Artist: Hans
Memling (c.1433-94) For the meaning of other pictures, see: Famous Paintings Analyzed. |
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Art Appreciation
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Interpretation of Last Judgment TriptychThis impressive triptych altarpiece by the German-born Flemish painter Hans Memling is one of the greatest Renaissance paintings of 15th century Flanders. A student of Roger van der Weyden, one of the most influential Flemish painters, Memling specialized in creating harmonious religious paintings out of numerous figures and carefully observed details, further enhanced by the three-dimensional modelling of his forms as well as the hues of his rich Renaissance colour palette. Painted in his late thirties, only a few years before the sublime Donne Triptych (1475-80, National Gallery, London) it is Memling's most monumental work. One might say that it stands at the point of transition between Gothic art (like that of Hieronymus Bosch) and the Renaissance in Florence. The work was painted in Bruges then shipped to Italy. En route, however, it was seized by pirates and carried off to Poland. It now resides in the Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk. |
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Commission This work of Biblical art was commissioned by Jacopo Tani (1415-1492), a Florentine banker and representative of the Medici Family in Bruges. An associate of the Italian financier Tommaso Portinari, who would shortly commission the Bruges artist Hugo van der Goes (1440–1482) to paint the celebrated Portinari Altarpiece (1476-9), Tani intended the work for the altar of his family chapel in the church of the Badia Fiesolana in Florence, and timed it to coincide with his wedding in 1466 to Caterina Tanagli (1446-1492), with whom he is shown on the wings when closed. Upon completion, the panel paintings were consigned by ship from London to Porto Pisano in 1473, except that when it was off the Dutch coast, the ship was seized by a privateer in the pay of the Hanseatic League who were then engaged in a blockade of English trade. The painting was confiscated and taken to Danzig (Gdansk), where it has remained ever since. Composition In the central panel of Memling's work, Christ is depicted as the Maestas Domini enthroned above a rainbow with his feet resting on a globe representing the earth. A lily (symbolizing Mercy) and a sword (symbolizing Justice) emerge from his mouth, mirroring the palm-up blessing of his right hand, and the palm-down condemnation of his left. He is surrounded by the Apostles, as well as the praying figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, who intercede for human souls, plus a number of angels bearing instruments of the Passion. Down below on earth, Archangel Michael,
who stands on the border between the green, rich soil to the left and
the brown, bare plain to the right, propels the naked sinners into Hell
(right panel), while the righteous are steered upwards into Heaven (left
panel). Greeted on a crystal glass stairway by Saint Peter, the procession
of the saved - led by pope, cardinal and bishop - are then given clothes
by angels. A golden aura surrounds the Gates of Paradise - a richly decorated
archway complete with angelic choir and orchestra. The architectural mix
(Gothic portal, Romanesque towers) together with the image of the creation
of Eve in the gablet, joins together the beginning and end of human history,
and symbolizes the New Jerusalem that descends from heaven, as foretold
in Revelations (3:12). The two extremes are linked by a flowing semi-circular pictorial line of nude bodies, which lends the whole work a sense of harmony and balance. As it was, Memling did not see his figures as purely anonymous representations, but gave them individual facial features. How many of these figures are genuine miniature portrait paintings is impossible to determine. Nonetheless, the figure kneeling in the left scale of the Archangel has been identified as Tommaso Portinari, Jacopo Tani's partner. In the background of the centre panel, behind Archangel Michael, a detailed landscape - showing the valley of Josaphat, the site of the Last Judgement - stretches to the horizon. Grisaille Exterior When the outer panels are closed, we see pictures in grisaille of the donor Jacopo Tani and his wife Caterina kneeling in prayer, before their individual recess containing (in his case) a statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, and (in her case) St Michael battling with demons. The theme is the victory of St Michael over the Devil, who was threatening the Virgin and Christ Child. Development of Van der Weyden's Flemish Style of Painting Memling's triptych preserves several traditions of religious art which were used earlier in the century by his teacher Roger van der Weyden in the latter's Last Judgment (1446-52, Musee de l'Hotel Dieu, Beaune) also known as the Beaune Altarpiece. The central figures are still Christ and Archangel Michael with the scales, but the latter has been transformed from a priest into a soldier. But Weyden's wide, hieratical picture has been streamlined and made clearer by reducing the disproportionate relationship between the divine and earthly spheres. In addition, Memling appears to have added a velvety softness of pigment and a delicate transparency of colour. |
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Other Famous 15th Century Northern Renaissance Altarpieces Other famous examples of religious Flemish painting include: • Entombment
Triptych (1410, Courtauld Gallery, London) by Robert Campin. |
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• For more about Netherlandish painting, see our main index: Homepage.
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