The Last Judgement

1467-1473

The triptych

Hans Memling’s Last Judgement triptych is one of the world’s most outstanding and best preserved examples of Netherlandish painting. In spite of its almost 550 years of turbulent history, it has never been severely damaged. It captivates with the intensity of its colours and the abundance of its complex content even today. The painting was made at a time when painting technique and the method of support preparation were brought to perfection in the Netherlands. This was the first such prestigious work in Memling’s oeuvre. The masterpiece’s fame came about both due to its artistic value and the remarkable history that forever ties the painting to Gdańsk. The open triptych shows the vision of Judgement Day described in the Book of Revelation. The axis of symmetry consists of two figures: Christ and the Archangel Michael standing below. Depicted as the Judge, Christ sits on a rainbow, surrounded by the apostles, with his feet resting on a golden orb (a symbol of the Universe). Above their heads are angels who present the Arma Christi (the Instruments of the Passion). Underneath are the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, who intercede for the humanity that is being judged. The rainbow separates these two realities: the divine, symbolised by the golden background, and the terrestrial, the setting for the dramatic scene of separating the sinners from the just. Dressed in a golden Milanese armour and clothed in a Florentine velvet brocade cloak, the Archangel Michael weighs the souls. The triptych’s right-hand side features the saved walking up crystal stairs to the Heavenly Gates; the left-hand side, plunged into chaos, is the scene where the damned are cast down into the infernal abyss. The reverse sides of the wings depict the painting’s founder Angelo Tani and his wife Caterina Tanagli. The triptych does not bear the master’s signature. Therefore, it had been attributed to various Netherlandish painters for a long time. Jan van Eyck, but also Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes, Albert van Ouweter and Michael Wolgemut were all often mentioned. The first one to see a resemblance to the paintings of Hans Memling was Gustav Hotho in 1843, but it was only in 1901 and 1902 that Aby Warburg consolidated this thesis in his publications. The vast majority of researchers confirm that attribution to this day.

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Prawdopodobny Autoportret / Tryptyk Roziny Donne

Probable Self-Portrait / Triptych of the Donne Family

Hans Memling

Hans Memling was most likely born ca. 1435–1440 in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt am Main in today’s Germany. He became famous as a painter in Bruges, one of the largest economic and artistic centres of 15th century Europe. Only scraps of source indimensionsion about his life have survived: in January 1465, he was made a citizen of Bruges, married Anna Valkenare between 1470 and 1480, had three sons, owned three houses in the city and was one of the wealthiest people in Bruges.
He died on 11 August 1494.

Memling was already a fully-formed artist when he came to Bruges in 1465. The first artistic hub he visited on his way to the Netherlands was probably Cologne, the centre of panel painting in the Rhineland, where many eminent illuminators and painters worked, notably Stefan Lochner (ca. 1400–1451). There the artist discovered his love of detail, many formal solutions and stylistic features, which in later years he would transplant onto Netherlandish painting (e.g. depictions of the Virgin and Child surrounded by saints, secular double-portraits; he modified the monochrome convention). In Cologne, Memling also had the opportunity to encounter the work of the famous Rogier van der Weyden at the Church of St Columba. An analysis of many paintings by Memling shows that he knew van der Weyden’s work well and mastered the technical skills used in his workshops. However, there are no documents to prove that Memling was a student of his. Therefore, we may only suspect that the artist came to Brussels in ca. 1459–1460 to begin work as one of several assistants at the Netherlandish master’s workshop. A few months after the master’s death, Hans Memling turned up in Bruges where he quickly began receiving commissions from its wealthiest and most influential residents. The artist came to specialise in small diptychs and triptychs for individual devotion, a common theme for him was the Virgin and Child both half-length (1487, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and full-length surrounded by saints (ca. 1480, National Gallery, London). In 1470, he began to paint portraits. Official and private commissions flowed at a steady pace and his workshop won international renown. Today, some 80 works are attributed to Memling, only five of which are still in their original destination. The sophisticated elegance and serenity that emanates from his paintings is underscored with a soft fluid modelling, a perfectly smooth shiny texture, not unlike in enamelled items, intimate atmosphere, intensity and sophisticated combinations of colours. All this makes Memling’s work special when viewed against other 15th century Netherlandish paintings and appreciated today.

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Research

Pioneering research to shed a light on the technology and technique used by Hans Memling was carried out shortly after the triptych returned to Poland from the Soviet Union in 1957. With the use of the latest available technology, micro- and macrophotographs of the triptych in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, which made it possible to find the artist’s drawing underneath the painting’s surface. This was the beginning of the interdisciplinary research on the painting which continues to this day. The research so far has shown the diverse ways the underdrawing was produced. IR image analysis made clear the corrections to the underdrawings of particular elements of the composition, changes in proportions and the search for the appropriate form. In many areas the end result was achieved only in the paint layers.

IR Reflectography at 1200 nm

The Last Judgment / fragment / middle panel

The Last Judgment / fragment / left panel

Technique

Hans Memling’s Last Judgement was made in tempera and oil on edge-glued oak panels. It consists of a 224 x 162 cm central panel painted on one side and two 223.2 x 72.5 cm wings painted on both the obverse and reverse. The painting’s support is primed with a mixture of white chalk and glue upon which the artist put his preparatory drawing with black chalk, a stylus and water-soluble paint. After the drawing was finished, a layer of oil with resin was applied to give the primer a slightly ochre tint.

Its purpose was to protect the drawing from getting blurred and to reduce the primer’s absorptive quality. Next, the artist applied a white layer of oil paint, then used white to build the light and applied the colours. The bright gesso gave purity and intensity to the colours. The inner layers were painted thicker using emulsion binder. The upper layers were applied more thinly, in a glaze fashion with oil and natural resin as a binder. The pigments used were typical of 15th-century painting: white lead, lead-tin yellow (type I), vermillion, minium, red and brown ochres, verdigris, azurite, natural ultramarine, alongside organic yellow, brown and red, probably alizarin.
The colour palette is limited to a few basic pigments bound with linseed oil and natural resin. The painting’s extraordinary depth and brightness is further enhanced by the semi – transparent glaze applied as a last layer.