3-002-518 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of a Man at Prayer with Saint John the Baptist, c1475. Hugo van der Goes (active ca. 1440-1482) was one of the major portraitists of 15th-century Europe, at a time when portraiture gained importance under the impact of the new individualism fostered by humanism. A common type of portrait was the depiction of a man or woman in prayer, experiencing a vision, often of the Virgin. This small panel, cut down slightly at the top and bottom, was originally the right wing of a small altarpiece made of only two paintings, known as a diptych. The subject of the left wing would have been the Virgin and Child. It is to them that Saint John directs the praying donor's devotion.