Portrait of a member of the De Rojas family, 1460 - 1470
Hans Memling
Museum Sint-Janshospitaal,
Musea Brugge (Belgium)
2020.GRO0012.I
This panel used to be part of a triptych. We do not know what the central panel depicts but, on the (once) left wing, we see a kneeling, praying man. Based on the coat of arms in the bottom-right, it is thought to be a member of the prominent Spanish Rojas family, although this is questioned by art historians. This is because the stars on the De Rojas family coat of arms are seven-pointed, while here they are six-pointed. The most famous of the Rojas family was Francisco de Rojas, Spanish ambassador to the Burgundian court. But it is not certain whether the man portrayed is indeed Francisco. Supposedly, the right wing (privately owned) features a reading girl, possibly a family member of this De Rojas scion.
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Technical examination is used to study Hans Memling’s paintings. This is a method within art history that applies the latest scientific techniques to examine the various layers that make up a painting. KIK-IRPA used four modes of macro photography and infrared reflectography to research and document Hans Memling’s paintings.
DETAILS
| Title | Portrait of a member of the De Rojas family |
| Location | Museum Sint-Janshospitaal, Musea Brugge, Bruges (Belgium) |
| Category | Paintings |
| Subject | Portraits |
| Inventory number | 2020.GRO0012.I |
| Creator | Hans Memling |
| Date | circa 1460-70 |
| Materials | Oil paint, oak |
| Technique | Oil paint on panel |
| Dimensions | With frame: height 118.7 x width 63.3 cm |
| Support: height 107.2 x width 51.6 cm | |
| Painted surface: height 105.7 x width 50.2 cm |
| Permalink | |
| IIIF manifest | https://dam.museabrugge.be/memling/manifests/manifest-10.json |
| Copyright | Musea Brugge is committed to making data available as usable open data. Images of artworks that are not subject to copyright restrictions are published for this purpose under the Creative Commons Zero license. These may be freely used. |
Gift from Ambassador J. William Middendorf and the King Baudouin Foundation United States (KBFUS), in honour of Till-Holger Borchert.
The images were taken by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels) on behalf of Musea Brugge.
The stitching of the images is thanks to VUB spinoff Universum Digitalis BV.