Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (Memling)
Painting by Hans Memling / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (or Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara) is a c. 1480 oil-on-oak painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Virgin Mary sits on a throne in a garden holding the Child Jesus in her lap. Mother and child are flanked by angels playing musical instruments, with St Catherine of Alexandria to the left opposite St Barbara on the right. The male figure standing slightly behind the celestial group presumably commissioned the painting as a devotional donor portrait.
Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine | |
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Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara | |
Artist | Hans Memling |
Year | early 1480s |
Medium | Oil on wood panel |
Dimensions | 67 cm × 72.1 cm (26 in × 28.4 in) |
Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Website | Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine |
The exterior landscape setting combines elements of a hortus conclusus (enclosed garden), sacred conversation (sacred conversation) and Virgo inter Virgines; the latter always presents Mary with female saints. Its visual harmony, structure, and color reflect Memling's characteristically serene style,[1] synthesizing techniques and elements of Jan van Eyck's and Rogier van der Weyden's works.
The composition is almost an exact replica of the central panel in Memling's St John Altarpiece.[1] It is unknown when he painted the Mystic Marriage; 1480 seems a probable date according to tree ring analysis. The arbor arching over the Virgin's throne was added at a later date, possibly in the 16th century.[2]