Lamentation over the Dead Christ with a Donor
68.5 x 52.5 cm; oil on wood panel (FC 592)
Memling was a superb portraitist who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting, and this picture underlines his probable apprenticeship with Rogier van der Weyden in Brussels. Datable to the artist’s maturity either in the 1470s or 1480s, the panel is in excellent condition. The donor, an unknown person who commissioned the work, kneels on the right. As with most of the panels in this school of painting, the support is oak wood, which is almost completely immune to attack by woodworm. This is a relatively recent addition to the Gallery: Prince Filippo Andrea V Doria Pamphilj bought it in 1854 from the Roman painter Luigi Cochetti, together with other works by so-called “Primitive” painters.
