Christ with singing and music-making angels

Memling, Hans (born 1430-1440, died 1494)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
ca. 1487-1490
Technique / Medium:
oil on wood panel
Place of creation:
Nájera (España)
School:
Flemish

Additional titles

Christ surrounded by musician angels

    Item location

  • Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen
    [Museum inv. no.: 778, 779, 780]

Description

This triptych is a portion of a larger altarpiece created for the monastery church of Santa Maria la Real. The left and right panels each feature five musician angels. The center panel depicts Jesus Christ with a trio of singing angels on either side.

People as subjects

Jesus Christ

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Natural trumpet [4419] (two are depicted, one on left panel and one on right panel)
Portative organ [2267] (on right panel)
Harp [3285] (20 strings; on right panel)
Fiddle [3142] (5 strings; on right panel)
Psaltery [3677] (triangular shape with two curved sides; played with plectra; on left panel)
Lute [3394] (6 strings; played with plectrum; on left panel)
Trumpet marine [3519] (on left panel)
End-blown trumpet [6556] (on right panel)
Mute cornett [3871] (on left panel)

Musical works

illegible music notation
The two trios of angels in the middle panel are holding open music books.

RIdIM images


Left panel (KMSKA - artinflanders.be - photographer: Rik Klein Gotink)

Right panel (KMSKA - artinflanders.be - photographer: Rik Klein Gotink)

Center panel (KMSKA - artinflanders.be - photographer: Rik Klein Gotink)

Image URLs

image link 1
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (center panel)
image link 2
Art in Flanders (left panel)
image link 3
Art in Flanders (right panel)

Bibliographic references

Van der Snickt, Geert, et al. "Material analyses of ‘Christ with singing and music-making angels,’ a late 15th-c panel painting attributed to Hans Memling and assistants: Part I. Non-invasive in situ investigations," Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry 26 (2011) 2216–2229. http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2011/ja/c1ja10073d

Ember, Ildikó. Music in painting: Music as a symbol in Renaissance and Baroque painting. Trans. by Mary and András Boros-Kazai (Budapest: Corvina, 1984) plate 15. ISBN 9631317234. RILM 1984-6813.

RIdIM record id

3347