The Virgin and Child with an Angel

This Virgin and Child with an Angel, around 1480, in the National Gallery London, is a devotional painting of intimate scale intended for private prayer. Memling was a prolific producer of such devotional works for the wealthy merchant class of Bruges and beyond Hans Memling brought serene, refined beauty to Flemish devotional painting, becoming the leading artist in Bruges after the death of van der Weyden The Virgin Mary occupied a central place in late medieval and Renaissance piety, venerat

The Virgin holds the Christ child while an angel offers a flower, the trio arranged in a harmonious pyramidal composition. Memling's refined technique creates luminous flesh tones and shimmering draperies with characteristic precision.