Madonna Enthroned with Child and Two Angels
1490-91
Oil on wood, 57 x 42 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

By Hans Memling (b. ca. 1440, Seligenstadt, d. 1494, Bruges)

Artist of German origin, active in Bruxelles and Bruges during the second half of 15th century, Memling often painted sacred scenes with a sense of serene harmony and decorative elegance. In this work splendor of the colours dominates the foreground, with the Madonna's throne framed in an arch and adorned with festoons of leaves, fruit and flowers held by putti: a set of motifs that clearly reveal the artist's attention to Italian models of Venetian art, while peculiarly Flemish is the natural landscape on the background.