Portrait of an Elderly Woman

Portrait of an Old Woman is a small oil on wood panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling, completed c 1475–80, and in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, since 1944. The panel has obviously been cut down given its tight framing. The woman's face and headdress dominate the remaining pictorial space; they create a strong contrast between her cream headgear and the black background and the lower portion of the painting, which was originally bluish green, but has darkened with age and accumulated dirt. Yet the panel is in good condition following a restoration that replaced lost paint in several areas.

Portrait of an Old Woman, c 1480, 26.5 x 17.8cm (14.6 × 10.6in). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The panel is noted for it dramatic contrasts in light and colour, and for its subtle treatment of skin tones, which are comparable to Memling's c 1472 Portrait of Maria Portinari, in New York.

Portrait of an Elderly Man, Hans Memling, 1475 or thereabouts

The painting was obviously at one time a donor wing, either for a diptych or triptych which was at some stage broken apart. It is probably thus related to the Portrait of an Elderly Man now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. That painting's commission is unclear; we do know who he was, and his hands are folded rather than joined in prayer, the vastly usual positing for a donor panel.[1]

The painting was in Paris in 1910, when it was sold to C. von Hollitscher of Berlin. From there it passed into the von Auspitz collection in Vienna until 1931. It was acquired by the art dealer Bachstitz who sold it to Percy S. Straus in 1934. The painting was is bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1944.

Notes

"Portrait of an Old Man." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 February 2016

Sources

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. London: Harper Collins, 1953. ISBN 978-0-06-430002-5
De Vos, Dirk. Hans Memling: The Complete Works. Ghent: Harry N Abrams, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8109-3649-2

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[1] "Portrait of an Old Man." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 February 2016

Hans Memling
Individual religious panels	Virgin and Child Enthroned with two Musical Angels, c. 1467 Scenes from the Passion of Christ, c. 1470 Adoration of the Magi, c. 1471 Mater Dolorosa, c. 1475 Allegory with a Virgin, c. 1479–1480 Advent and Triumph of Christ, c. 1480 Mater Dolorosa, c. 1480 Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, c. 1480 Angel Musicians, 1480s Annunciation, c. 1482 Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels, c. 1480s Adam and Eve, c. 1485 Bathsheba, c. 1485
Polyptychs	Last Judgment, c. 1467–1471 Diptych of an elderly couple, c. 1470–1472 Diptych of Jean de Cellier, c. 1475 St John Altarpiece, 1479 Donne Triptych, c. 1480 Moreel Triptych, 1484 Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, c. 1485 Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, 1487 St. Ursula Shrine, c. 1489
Portraits	Portrait of a Man, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Tommaso Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Maria Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of an Elderly Man, c. 1470–1475 Portrait of an Elderly Woman, c. 1470–1475 Portrait of a Man with a Pink Carnation, 1475 Portrait of Benedetto Portinari, 1478 Portrait of Willem Morell, c. 1480 Portrait of a Man with a Roman Medal, c. 1480 Portrait of Barbara van Vlaendenbergh, c. 1480 Sibylla Sambetha, c. 1480