Memling

Memling, Hans, flourished as a painter in Bruges during the latter part of the 15th century, but his personal existence is shrouded in mystery. The oldest of his recognised productions is John the Baptist, in the Munich Gallery, and that is assigned to 1470. The famous Last Judgment at Dantzic was completed three years later and sold to the Medici, but captured by a privateer on its way south. 'The Seven Griefs of Mary, now at Turin, dates from 1477, and the masterpieces in the Hospital of St. John at Bruges are not earlier than 1479. To the same period belong the Madonna and Saints in the Louvre, and the Virgin and Child given by Sir J. Donne to Chiswick church. The exact date of his death is unknown, but the archives of Bruges prove that it must have been before 1495.