Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456)
ca. 1470
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
(.626, Tommaso) overall 17 3/8 x 13 1/4 in. (44.1 x 33.7 cm), painted surface 16 5/8 x 12 1/2 in. (42.2 x 31.8 cm); (.627, Maria) overall 17 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. (44.1 x 34 cm); painted surface 16 5/8 x 12 5/8 in. (42.2 x 32.1 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
Accession Number
14.40.626–27
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
These paired portraits by Hans Memling, a leading Flemish painter of the Northern Renaissance, depict the Italian banker Tommaso di Folco Port and his young wife, Maria Maddalena Baroncelli. Created around 1470, oil-on-wood panels showcase the couple in three-quarter view against detailed landscapes, a hallmark of Memling's style influenced by Jan van Eyck. Tommaso's panel measures 17⅜ × 13¼ inches overall, while Maria's is slightly taller at 17⅜ × 13⅜ inches, suggesting they were designed as a diptych to be viewed together. Tommaso, born in 1428, managed the Medici Bank's Bruges branch, embodying the era's thriving trade networks between Italy and Flanders. Maria, born in 1456, married him in 1470, making these intimate likenesses timely wedding gifts or donor images for a devotional work. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art thanks to Benjamin Altman's 1913 bequest, they highlight cross-cultural exchanges in 15th-century Europe. Memling's mastery of oil glazing creates luminous skin tones, richly textured velvets, and intricate jewelry, capturing psychological depth and status. These works exemplify the period's shift toward individualized portraiture, blending realism with symbolic devotion for elite patrons.