Zooming In and Out: Reconsidering Hans Memling
To celebrate its opening in 2025, BRON Research Centre (Musea Brugge), in collaboration with the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels), is organising a two-day conference on new and ongoing research on the oeuvre of Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling.
About
In 2023 the first phase of the project Decoding Memling commenced, a research project initiated by Musea Brugge to study the nine works by Hans Memling in its collection. Following the Closer to Van Eyck website, Closer to Memling, in collaboration with other institutions such as KIK-IRPA, aims to document the core works in Memling's oeuvre in high resolution and with various imaging techniques.
Zooming In and Out
The conference will highlight and stimulate new interdisciplinary research on the painter Hans Memling by leading and new scholars in the field. The programme will include papers that 'zoom in' (case studies of individual paintings) and focus on subjects like attribution, organisation of the workshop, or patronage, but also studies that 'zoom out', by addressing broader cultural historical and historiographical issues, and everything in between. Contributions will draw upon a variety of disciplines, including (technical) art history, (social; cultural) history, conservation, and conservation science.
Preliminary conference programme
Thursday 20 November 2025
09.00-09.30 Registration and coffee
09.30-09.50 Welcome
- 09.30-09.40 Word of Welcome - Anne van Oosterwijk
- 09.40-09.50 Closer to Memling: Project presentation - Joyce Klein Koerkamp
09.50-11.20 Session 1
- 09.50-10.15 Context of the Portrait of Gilles Joye - Hendrik Callewier
- 10.15-10.40 The Bruges commissioners of Hans Memling - Joannes van den Maagdenberg
- 10.40-11.05 Lecture by Anna Koopstra
- 11.05-11.20 Discussion
11.20-11.50 Coffee break
11.50-13.20 Session 2
- 11.50-12.15 Memling's Manoeuvres: Ins and Outs of the Blue - Carol Pottasch and Jan Bustin
- 12.15-12.40 Hans Memling's Ursula Shrine: New Insights from the IOHANNES Project - Melis Avkiran
- 12.40-13.05 From Van Eyck to Memling: the expressive power of oil paint - Marie Postec
- 13.05-13.20 Discussion
13.20-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-16.30 Session 3
- 15.00-15.25 Window and Mirror in Hans Memling's Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove - Sandra Hindriks
- 15.25-15.50 Hans Memling's Artistic Inspirations from Germany: Diversity of Media and Vernacular Devotional Practices - Miyuki Yamagata
- 15.50-16.15 The Memling Carpet: Controversy at the Foundation of Carpet History - Jeffrey Taylor
- 16.15-16.30 Discussion
16.30-18.30 Visit to Museum St. John's Hospital
18.30-21.00 Walking dinner/reception at BRUSK
Friday 21 November 2025
09.00-09.30 Registration and coffee
09.30-10.30 Keynote Lecture
10.30-12.00 Session 4
- 10.30-10.55 New Analysis of the Melbourne Man of Sorrows - Cameron Hurst
- 10.55-11.20 Artistic Crossroads: Unraveling the Parallels Between Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes - Erik Eising
- 11.20-11.45 Leaving no trace behind? Hans Memling in Cologne - Martin Hanßen
- 11.45-12.00 Discussion
12.00-13.30 Lunch break
13.30-15.00 Session 5
- 13.30-13.55 Unpredictable ambitions: Memling's last judgment in perspective Till-Holger Borchert
- 13.55-14.20 The draft commission of the triptych for the "Badia Fiesolana" in the light of the historical and humanistic events of Florence - Fabio Marcelli
- 14.20-14.45 Fragment of the Chain Reaction: What Michel Sittow Learned in Memling's Workshop - Oskar Rojewski
- 14.45-15.00 Discussion
15.00-15.30 General discussion and closing remarks - Anna Koopstra and Melis Avkiran
Would you like more information about this conference?
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