La Madonna di Jacob Floreins

Bruges in the 1480s was full of merchants who wanted their devotion put on record, and Jacob Floreins was one of them. He had Memling paint him kneeling at the Virgin's throne with his large family gathered small around him, presented by Saints James and Dominic. It is a calm, orderly picture: the enthroned Madonna and Child at the centre, a gentle Flemish landscape opening behind. The part worth lingering on is the donor's crowd of children, each given a tiny individual face. Memling ran one of the busiest workshops in the town, and the serene Virgin type at the centre here is one he painted again and again for patrons like this.