Portrait of a Man with a Pink

Hans Memling was the leading painter in Bruges during the second half of the 15th century. He specialized in portraits and religious scenes made for the town's merchant class and foreign visitors. The two vertical panels on this wall once formed the inner wings of a triptych. They depict relatives along with their patron saints of Jan Crabbe, the 15th century Abbot who commissioned this altarpiece. At left, St. Anne stands behind an older kneeling woman holding a book in her hands. This is probably Crabbe's mother, Anna Willemzoon. At right, St. William of Malaval appears an armor behind a young man, probably the abbot's younger half-brother, Willem de Winter, wearing a 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.