Memling’s Crabbe Triptych reunited

The Morgan Library & Museum reunites for the first time for an American audience Hans Memling's Triptych of Jan Crabbe. Jan Crabbe was the 26th Abbott of the Duinenabdij in Koksijde. He ordered the triptych in 1472 to celebrate his fifteenth year as a Prelate. The Crabbe Triptych was disassembled in the 18th Century. This exhibition brings together the scattered elements, reuniting the Morgan's inner wings with the central panel now owned by the Musei Civici in Vicenza (Italy) and the outer wings from the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece is the first museum exhibition to explore the reconstructed masterpiece in context.

The outer wings from the Groeninge Museum consist of an Annunciation done in so-called ‘living' grisaille. A grisaille was usually destined to depict saints on the outer wings, and with the use of grey and white paint, it lent a sculptural quality to the figures. However, Memling's Madonna and Gabriel are depicted as living figures, dressed in white and surrounded by grey and white accessories.

The catalogue of the exhibition Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece is made possible by the Flemish Research Centre for the Arts in the Burgundian Netherlands (Musea Brugge).

Exhibition Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece
When: September 2 - January 8, 2017
Where: Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Website

(News item June 16, 2016)