Stop 18. Anna Willemzoon with St. Anne; Willem de Winter with St. William of Maleval

John Marciari, Charles W. Engelhard Curator of Drawings and Prints
Hans Memling was the leading painter in Bruges during the second half of the fifteenth century, when the city was one of the primary banking and trade centers in Europe. Memling painted both portraits of the merchant class and religious scenes–and also works like these panels, which combine portraits and sacred subjects. The two paintings once formed the inner wings of an altarpiece commissioned by Jan Crabbe, the abbot of a local monastery. They include depictions of Crabbe’s relatives, along with their patron saints. At left, St. Anne stands behind an older, kneeling woman. This is Crabbe's mother, Anna Willemzoon. At right, St. William of Maleval appears in armor behind a young man, the abbot's younger half-brother Willem de Winter, who wears clerical garb over his knightly armor. The central panel of the triptych, a Crucifixion, is preserved in Vicenza, while the two exterior wing panels are in Bruges.