Díptico de Munique

This pairs two small hinged panels made to fold shut like a book, the kind of portable altar a wealthy person carried for private prayer. On one side the Virgin holds the Christ Child. On the other a man kneels, presented by Saint George in his armour, so that in the owner's mind the two halves face each other and he is forever kneeling before the Mother of God. Memling ran the busiest workshop in Bruges around 1480, when the city was one of the richest trading towns in northern Europe and its foreign merchants wanted exactly this kind of quiet, jewel-like devotion. The everyday clothes and calm, still faces are his hallmark.