A Young Man at Prayer

Nothing on this panel tells us who the young man was. What dates him is his clothes. The red velvet doublet showing at the collar, the black gown with white puffs at the tops of the sleeves, the hair cut in a long bob with a straight fringe, all belong to the fashion of about 1475. He kneels with his hands pressed together, a gilded prayer book open on the ledge in front of him, between two marble columns with golden capitals. His eyes are turned toward something outside the picture. This was the left wing of a diptych or a triptych, and the holy image he was praying to was on the panel beside it, now parted from him. Infrared study shows Memling drew the face and pose carefully before painting, then changed almost nothing.