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Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456)

Hans Memling Netherlandish
ca. 1470
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 602

A native of Florence, Tommaso Portinari was the branch manager of the Medici bank in Bruges. He probably commissioned these portraits from Memling around the time of his marriage to the fourteen-year-old Maria Baroncelli in 1470. The two panels originally formed a triptych with a central devotional image of the Virgin and Child. Memling has placed the sitters before illusionistic frames, an innovation suggesting that the figures project into our space. His close attention to the stubble and scar on Tommaso’s chin heightens the realistic effect.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456)
  • Artist: Hans Memling (Netherlandish, Seligenstadt, active by 1465–died 1494 Bruges)
  • Date: ca. 1470
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: (.626, Tommaso) overall 17 3/8 x 13 1/4 in. (44.1 x 33.7 cm), painted surface 16 5/8 x 12 1/2 in. (42.2 x 31.8 cm); (.627, Maria) overall 17 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. (44.1 x 34 cm); painted surface 16 5/8 x 12 5/8 in. (42.2 x 32.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
  • Object Number: 14.40.626–27
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

Audio

Cover Image for 2619. Investigations: Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428-1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456), Part 1

2619. Investigations: Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428-1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456), Part 1

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