Diptych of Jan du Cellier

This is one half of a hinged pair, a portable altarpiece a man could open at home and pray before. Hans Memling was the busiest painter in Bruges, then one of the richest trading cities in Europe, and wealthy merchants lined up for exactly this kind of object. On one panel the Virgin sits with the Christ Child in a walled garden, ringed by female saints, Catherine, Barbara and others, each with her emblem, while small angels play music above. On the facing panel kneels the man who paid for it, Jan du Cellier, presented to them by John the Baptist. Placing yourself inside the holy scene like this was the fashion of the age. Memling gives the donor the same still, patient realism he gives the saints.