DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42081#0082
owing to its connexion with Sir John Donne’s triptych,
was supposed to be one of the first of the series. The
Madonnas of Bruges and Berlin are clearly related to each
other, as is proved by their general pose, the wide folds of
the mantle thrown back in an ample sweep to the right of
the spectator and even to the arrangement of the cushion
under the Virgin’s feet; on the other hand, on the left of our
picture the draperies are not so lavishly displayed and there
is something less assured and more youthful in the drawing
of them. The angel, also, resembles those seen in the Duke
of Devonshire’s triptych and we have here doubtless one of
the first ideas of a detail which often reappears in Memling’s
works : namely that of the Child playing with an apple that
he receives from the angel or to whom He gives it. By the
arrangement of the feet, of which the soles are visible, and
that are perpendicular to the legs, the Child is somewhat
similar to the Berlin Child; in Memling’s Virgins this way of
painting the feet is rare (except when the subject is the
Adoration of the Magi), but it is to be met with, very
frequently in Van der Weyden’s works. One of the most
characteristic features and one that hardly ever appears in the
other works of the Master, is the leg bent at right angles :
this would be directly due to the influence of Bouts, t-:—~
3C Our picture seems to prove moreover, that Memling’s
full ' length Virgins seated on a bench or on a throne have
indeed as their prototype, as has already been said by Mr.
Hulin de Loo, Bouts’ Virgin between Saint Peter and Saint Paul,
now in the National Gallery; the movement of the hand
was supposed to be one of the first of the series. The
Madonnas of Bruges and Berlin are clearly related to each
other, as is proved by their general pose, the wide folds of
the mantle thrown back in an ample sweep to the right of
the spectator and even to the arrangement of the cushion
under the Virgin’s feet; on the other hand, on the left of our
picture the draperies are not so lavishly displayed and there
is something less assured and more youthful in the drawing
of them. The angel, also, resembles those seen in the Duke
of Devonshire’s triptych and we have here doubtless one of
the first ideas of a detail which often reappears in Memling’s
works : namely that of the Child playing with an apple that
he receives from the angel or to whom He gives it. By the
arrangement of the feet, of which the soles are visible, and
that are perpendicular to the legs, the Child is somewhat
similar to the Berlin Child; in Memling’s Virgins this way of
painting the feet is rare (except when the subject is the
Adoration of the Magi), but it is to be met with, very
frequently in Van der Weyden’s works. One of the most
characteristic features and one that hardly ever appears in the
other works of the Master, is the leg bent at right angles :
this would be directly due to the influence of Bouts, t-:—~
3C Our picture seems to prove moreover, that Memling’s
full ' length Virgins seated on a bench or on a throne have
indeed as their prototype, as has already been said by Mr.
Hulin de Loo, Bouts’ Virgin between Saint Peter and Saint Paul,
now in the National Gallery; the movement of the hand