\ATXsh255 The earliest records of Hans MemlingÆs activity place him in Bruges in 1465. He was act
ive in this city for a long time, establishing relations with a number of members of Italian banking families who were looking after their interests there. One of these was the Florentine Tommaso Portinari, for whom Memling painted a portrait of him and
his wife (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), as well as the panel depicting \i Scenes of the Passion\i0 now in the Galleria Sabauda at Turin. Another Florentine, connected like Portinari with the Medici Bank in Bruges, was Angelo Tani, who commissio
ned from Memling the triptych with the \i Last Judgment\i0 (Gdansk), in which the painter took his inspiration directly from the painting of the same subject by Roger van der Weyden, usually considered his master. Memling undoubtedly achieved extraordin
ary success, for he was admitted to the cityÆs most important confraternity in 1474 and had become one of the wealthiest burghers of Bruges by the end of his career. His brilliant and measured style, splendid colors, and sure handling of space are eviden
t in the works of his maturity, such as the triptych representing the\i Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine\i0 , the \i Reins Triptych\i0 , or the \i Moreel Triptych\i0 dated 1484 (all in Bruges, Memling Museum). In his portraiture above all, Memling sh
ows himself to be the heir of the extraordinary painting techniques of the previous generation, especially van der Weyden or Jan van Eyck, who are his most direct sources of inspiration. An example is the \i Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove\i0 , painted
in 1487, in which the portrait of the client is particularly refined. His activity on behalf of Florentine clients led to the artistÆs fame spreading to Italy, where his portraits were compared with those of the generation of Sandro Botticelli and Anton
ello da Messina. However, MemlingÆs greatest achievements were in the field of devotional art, with works like the \i Lament over the Dead Christ\i0 (Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphili) or with lively and fascinating narratives like the ones that appear on t
