Portrait of a Man Reading — About This Work
Hans Memling, c. 1480
About the Work
Memling presents a man absorbed in reading. The book and the sitter's lowered gaze make this an intimate encounter, inviting attention to a private moment rather than a public display.
The Brukenthal National Museum identifies this portrait and its companion, Portrait of a Woman at Prayer, with Pieter Bultynck and Katharina van Riebeke, donors associated with Memling's The Seven Joys of the Virgin. That connection places the act of reading within the devotional world of fifteenth-century Bruges.
The portrait has an intimate physical presence. Presenting the complete image at its recorded scale preserves that relationship, while the surrounding white area accommodates the work within its frame.
The Work
Artist: Hans Memling
Title: Portrait of a Man Reading
Date: c. 1480
Medium: Oil on panel
Recorded dimensions: 32.5 × 45 cm (W × H)
Collection: Brukenthal National Museum
Accession number: 728
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 40 × 50 cm Classic Frame, portrait.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Recommended: Brukenthal National Museum; photograph/source credit Christof Weber; exact file via Wikimedia Commons.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
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