Triptych of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt

By the time Memling painted this small altarpiece, around 1475, Bruges was among the richest cities north of the Alps, a port where Italian bankers, the Medici among them, kept offices and ordered devotional panels to carry home. Memling ran the busiest workshop in town, and pictures like this went to exactly those clients. The centre shows the Holy Family stopped on the road to Egypt, the Virgin standing rather than seated, which is unusual for the scene. On the wings are Saint Sebastian and the Crucifixion. In the landscape behind the Virgin, Memling scattered small episodes from the flight itself, so the whole journey plays out in miniature beyond the quiet roadside halt.