Hans Memling: the Complete Works

Enormously successful during his own lifetime, the 15th-century Flemish painter Hans Memling left a vast legacy of work, including landscapes, portraits, altarpieces and miniatures. Brilliantly colourful, and characterised by an air of fantasy and illusion far removed from the political turbulence and bloodshed of 15th-century Flanders, Memling's paintings have always been extremely popular with the general public. Today Memling enjoys the stature he deserves as one of the true masters of late medieval art, and this volume provides a thorough reassessment of the artist and his work to herald the 500th anniversary of his death. Encompassing the entire range of his work, it contains a complete catalogue of the art, with each work reproduced in colour, and accompanied by detailed notes and analysis. A comprehensive biographical essay incorporating the latest research covers each period of Memling's life, setting him in the context of his own time and providing information on his most important contemporaries and predecessors. In conclusion the author provides an analytical review of his achievement, approached from historical, iconographic, stylistic, technical and aesthetic perspectives. Dirk De Vos is an art historian specialising in 15th and early 16th-century Flemish painting who has contributed to numerous periodicals and exhibition catalogues.