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Heilwich van der Rullen and Her Daughters with Saint Mary Magdalen (outer face); Hendrixke van Langhel and Her Deceased Child with Saint Catherine (inner face) by Hieronymus Bosch

Heilwich van der Rullen and Her Daughters with Saint Mary Magdalen (outer face); Hendrixke van Langhel and Her Deceased Child with Saint Catherine (inner face)

Hieronymus Bosch·1498

Historical Context

Complementary to the companion panels, these wings depict the female members of the Van Langhel family with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine. Heilwich van der Rullen kneels with her daughters while the inner face shows Hendrixke van Langhel with her deceased child under the patronage of Saint Catherine. The inclusion of the deceased infant is a poignant feature of late medieval devotional imagery — the dead are presented to their patron saint as an act of intercession. These Boston panels together provide a complete picture of a prosperous Flemish merchant family's devotional life around 1498.

Technical Analysis

The female figures are depicted with the same careful attention to physiognomy and costume as the male panels. Saint Catherine's attributes — the wheel and sword — are rendered with precise iconographic convention. The deceased child is depicted in the stylized manner of late medieval memorial imagery, distinguished from the living by pose and treatment.

See It In Person

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Boston, United States

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Quick Facts

Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
79.7 × 36.8 cm
Era
High Renaissance
Style
Northern Renaissance
Genre
Religious
Location
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston
View on museum website →

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