1470 (ca.), Hans Memling, Tomasso di Folco Portinari -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: 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.
1470 (ca.), Hans Memling, Tomasso di Folco Portinari -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: 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.