Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels 1490

Hans Memling painted this 'Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels' panel in the late 15th century, working in oil paint. The smooth surface speaks to Memling’s skills in layering and blending, techniques mastered through an apprenticeship. But beyond the finesse of the technique, consider the material itself. Oil paint’s rise coincided with the emergence of a mercantile economy. Pigments, ground in oil, were commodities, traded and valued. The cost of the ultramarine blue, for instance, impacted the overall value of the work. Then there's the underdrawing, a crucial but invisible aspect of the painting process. It would have determined the composition before the first layer of paint was even applied. The time-consuming act of layering itself, built-up in thin glazes, speaks to the value placed on labor and time in the creation of such images. These material considerations are all too easily overlooked, but they offer a more grounded understanding of the image.