Madonna and Child with Angels

Although it is not certain that Memling visited Italy and studied Italian art there, he certainly knew Italian works and borrowed from them, too. In a number of panels depicting his favourite theme, the Madonna and Child enthroned with angels, such as the panel in Washington, the motif of arch, known from the paintings of Rogier van der Weyden, appears, but it has been Italianized. In place of the intricate Gothic archivolts with narratives that Rogier painted, a heavier and more classical arch appears with Italian putti often holding garlands so familiar in Renaissance art.