Hans Memling: Portrait of Tommaso di Folco Portinari, his wife and the virgin and child (1470)

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA & National Gallery, London, UK)

A triptych made by the Flemish artist Hans Memling (1430-1494). On the left is Tommaso Portinari (1424? – 1501), the branch manager of the Medici bank in Bruges. Portinari used his position to make very large and extremely risky unsecured loans (more than twice the branch's total capital) to duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy - loans that were never repaid and cost the bank heavily. These loans would eventually lead to the branch's insolvency and Tommaso losing his position as the bank manager. On the right is Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, the wife of Tommaso Portinari. The portrait shows her at the age of about 14 years old, shortly before her wedding to Tommaso Portinari. The middle painting is not certain. The painting of "The Virgin Mary with child" is a suggestion made by scholars. This triptych was probably commissioned in 1470 to celebrate Portinari's wedding to Maria, for their private religious devotions at their ostentatious home in Bruges at Bladelinhof.