Special Exhibition Review: Memling's Portraits

Stan Parchin, our own Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, has just had a fine time immersing himself in Memling's Portraits, a hugely popular exhibition currently on view at The Frick Collection in Manhattan. Oh, it's hard to stifle those troubling, vaguely Freudian psychological symptoms of Stan Envy, reading his description of the exhibition and imagining him standing right in front of two-thirds of the extant works * of an artist I love. Those wonderful Romantic painters loved Memling too, and zeroed in on him - specifically - when they went through their Gothic Revival stage. And he was certainly in demand as a portraitist with foreigners and rich burghers from Bruges (hey - try saying that three times fast). Get to The Frick if you can; there's no telling if, let alone when, so many Memlings will be hung together again. I hope you enjoy reading Stan's review as much as I did, and wish to thank him for another enlightening piece. (OK. All together now: Rich burghers from Bruges. Rich burghers from Bruges. A proper copper coffee pot ... )

* Edit: Reader Peter Krause, who is hereby thanked, very nicely pointed out that the word "works" is incorrect. It certainly is. The proper word to have used (as Stan used, Peter pointed out and all three of us know) is "portraits." Memling's extant works include many altarpieces and paintings of the Virgin and Child or saints, but his portraits are numbered at only a little over 30. Pardons begged all around.