Hugo van der Goes and the Procedures of Art and Salvation (St... by Margaret L. Koster

A more elaborate variation is found in the left wing of Memling’s Diptych of Jan du Cellier, c.1489 (Musée du Louvre, Paris). The theme of the Virgin and Child surrounded by Virgin martyrs was common, and numerous versions of this composition survive and are generally attributed to followers of Van der Goes or to the Master of the St Lucy Legend (for example The Virgin among Virgins in a Rose Garden, c.1480, Detroit Institute of Arts). The figure of Ursula, with her emblem of an arrow beside her, is reminiscent of drawing after Van der Goes of c.1475 (Courtauld Institute of Art, London) but the robes in the Courtauld drawing are fuller, indicating a more sophisticated hand. St Margaret holds her attribute of a gold cross, and St Agnes holds a ring to signify she too was espoused to Christ. St Barbara – with towers decorating her necklace alluding to her imprisonment, and holding a red circlet from which the Christ Child may have just taken the ring – appears to be acting as a witness to the ceremony. The Christ Child is shown looking directly at St Catherine (identifiable by the fragment of a wheel and her sword of execution) as he hands her a wedding ring, symbolising the saint’s spiritual union with God. The painting incorporates the scene of the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine. A richly decorated canopy floats above them, supported by small angels. Five female saints – Catherine, Ursula, Agnes, Margaret and Barbara variously kneel or sit at the foot of the Virgin and Child in the verdant landscape. Thought to be a variation based on a lost original by Hugo Van der Goes, this painting shows the Virgin and Child seated on a low wall in a garden.

Hugo van der Goes and the Procedures of Art and Salvation (St... by Margaret L. Koster