Donne Triptych

The Donne Triptych by Hans Memling, c. 1470s, National Gallery, London.

The Donne Triptych (or Donne Altarpiece) is a hinged-triptych altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling. It consists of five individual panel paintings: a central inner panel, and two double-sided wings. It was painted for Sir John Donne, probably sometime between the late 1470s or early 1480s, and is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery, London, with the panels still in their original frames.

When Donne commissioned the work is unknown. Art historians have debated whether it was painted in the early 1480s, around the same time Memling painted Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara, in New York at the Metropolitan Art Museum. An earlier date of sometime in the late 1470s is possible, at the time he completed the similar St John Altarpiece, or it may have been painted as a precursor to that altarpiece.^[1][2][3]

The donor, Sir John Donne, was a Welsh-born diplomat for the House of York who visited Bruges at least once, in 1468 to attend Charles the Bold and Margaret of York's wedding; how he became acquainted with Memling is as uncertain as when he commissioned the triptych.^[4]

References

Sources

• Blum, Shirley Neilson. Early Netherlandish Triptychs: A Study in Patronage. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969
• Bruce, Donald. Contemporary Review. Aug 94, Vol. 265 Issue 1543, p72

Hans Memling
Single religious panels	Virgin and Child Enthroned with two Musical Angels, c. 1467 Scenes from the Passion of Christ, c 1470 Adoration of the Magi, c. 1471 Mater Dolorosa, c 1475 Allegory with a Virgin, c. 1479–1480 Advent and Triumph of Christ, c. 1480 Mater Dolorosa, c 1480 Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, c. 1480 Angel Musicians, 1480s Annunciation, c. 1482 Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels, c. 1480s
History paintings	Adam and Eve, c. 1485 Bathsheba, c. 1485
Polyptychs	Last Judgment, c. 1467–1471 Diptych of an elderly couple, c. 1470-1472 Diptych of Jean de Cellier, c. 1475 St John Altarpiece, 1479 Donne Triptych, c. 1480 St. Ursula Shrine, c. 1489
Portraits	Portrait of a Man, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Tommaso Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Maria Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of an Elderly Man, c 1470-75 Portrait of an Elderly Woman, c 1470-75 Portrait of a Man with a Pink Carnation, 1475 Portrait of Benedetto Portinari, 1478 Portrait of Willem Morell, c. 1480 Portrait of a Man with a Roman Medal, c. 1480 Portrait of Barbara van Vlaendenbergh, c. 1480 Sibylla Sambetha, c 1480