Skip to content

Hans Memling (Flanders, 1430/40–1494), Saint Stephen, circa 1479–80, oil on panel, Cincinnati Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. E. W. Edwards, 1956.11.
Saint Christopher, circa 1479–80, oil on panel, Cincinnati Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. E. W. Edwards, 1955.793

Audio Description

 

These paintings, titled Saint Stephen and Saint Christopher, were made around 1479/80 by the Flemish artist Hans Memling, who lived from 1430/40 to 1494. They are oil paintings on panel and were given to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Mrs. E. W. Edwards. Their accession numbers are 1956.11 and 1955.793.

Each narrow painting with an arched top, about 19 inches in height, is dominated by a single standing figure at the front of a deep landscape that appears continuous, linking the two panels.

In the left panel Saint Stephen stands in a grassy field dressed in a blue garment decorated with broad gold bands. Under this is a long-sleeved white garment that reaches to the ground. He gathers up the blue garment with his right hand, holding stones within the folds. With his left hand he holds up a stone. Saint Stephen stands in a grassy field interspersed with flowers. Behind him a road winds toward a city in the background, along which are tiny figures acting out scenes from the saint’s life.

In the right panel, Saint Christopher stands in a river. He wears a red piece of fabric draped over his shoulders, leaving his chest and legs bare. He has unkempt dark hair and a beard. Sitting on Christopher’s right shoulder is The Christ Child sits on Christopher’s left shoulder, lifting his right hand as if speaking and gripping the saint’s hair with his left. Scenes from the saint’s life are visible along the shoreline to the right as it snakes into the background.

Audio Description

 

These paintings, titled Saint Stephen and Saint Christopher, were made around 1479/80 by the Flemish artist Hans Memling, who lived from 1430/40 to 1494. They are oil paintings on panel and were given to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Mrs. E. W. Edwards. Their accession numbers are 1956.11 and 1955.793.

These two small panels by Hans Memling originally decorated the outer wings of a portable triptych altarpiece. Memling worked primarily in Flanders (now part of Belgium), and may have trained in the workshop of the renowned painter Rogier van der Weyden. He produced portraits, devotional panels, and altarpieces for prominent patrons and important churches. In his use of oil paint, still a relatively new medium, Memling built upon the innovations of Van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck.

Three paintings by Memling, each depicting the Madonna and Child, traveled to the United States in 1945. Van der Weyden and Van Eyck were also each represented by multiple paintings—both religious subjects and portraiture. Through these and other works, it was possible to trace a history of fifteenth-century Flemish painting in the “202.”