Young Woman with a Pink

This Young Woman with a Pink, around 1487, at the Metropolitan Museum, is one of Memling's finest female portraits. The sitter holds a carnation (pink), which may symbolize betrothal, and the intimate, half-length format suggests a private commission, possibly for a fiancé Hans Memling brought serene, refined beauty to Flemish devotional painting, becoming the leading artist in Bruges after the death of van der Weyden Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, of

The young woman's features are rendered with Memling's characteristic delicacy, her smooth skin and gentle expression conveying quiet beauty. The carnation is painted with botanical exactness while also serving as a symbol of love and fidelity.