Emigrating
from southern Germany in the late fifteenth-century, painter Hans Memling
sought success in Bruges, which was a vibrant commercial hub at the time.
Rather than among the nobility or ecclesiastical institutions, instead he
found his audience in the new urban middle class of merchant bankers,
financiers, politicians, affluent clerics and artisans. He also enjoyed a
reputation among diverse communities of traders and diplomats from across
Europe, including Castile and England, as well as Italian cities like Genoa,
Bologna and Florence, and the Hanseatic League. This book explores the social
and material aspects of Memling’s career and workshop, providing a vibrant
entry into Bruges as an early modern commercial capital, highlighting
international trade, factional politics, artisanal guilds, devotional
traditions, and the aspirations and identities of his merchant-class
clientele.