Hans Memling, 'Saint John the Baptist', about 1480

These panels were once the wings of a small triptych, the centre panel of which – The Virgin and Child with Two Angels – is now in the Uffizi, Florence. The architectural settings, the step, the patterns of the tiled floors and the landscapes are continuous from the wings to the centre panel. The open triptych shows the Virgin and Child enthroned on a dais, with two saints standing on the same dais. Though all three panels are framed by arches, the principal figures inhabit the same open edifice.

This composition, with the Virgin and Child enthroned and flanked by standing saints, was a popular product of Hans Memling’s workshop. The Virgin, Christ and angels in the Uffizi painting reappear in several other pictures by him, including The Virgin and Child with Saints and Donors (The Donne Triptych).

The altarpiece was demonstrably in Florence by the end of the fifteenth century, as its landscape backgrounds were frequently copied by Florentine artists of the time. The earliest datable copies are from an altarpiece by Fra Filippino Lippi datable to 1482–83, which includes copies of the castle on the left and the watermill on the right. Our panels were probably painted around 1480, by which time Memling was the leading artist in Bruges and very popular with Italian patrons.

On the outside of the wings nine beautifully painted cranes stand in a dark landscape beneath the coat of arms and emblems of the Pagagnotti, an important Florentine family and close associates of the famous bankers and de facto rulers of Florence, the Medici. The triptych’s first owner was almost certainly the high-ranking bishop Benedetto Pagagnotti, who used the crane and compasses as his emblem. He was initially a friar at the Dominican priory of San Marco and became bishop of Vaison in 1485, though he remained in Florence and was give the title ’suffragan and lieutenant general of the Archbishop'. A figure of very considerable importance, he moved in 1486 from San Marco to the less austere Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella, where he occupied the papal apartments. He died in 1523.

Benedetto Pagagnotti is not known to have visited the Netherlands, so the triptych was presumably commissioned by a well-informed associate, either on his behalf or as a gift for him. His relative, Paulo Ulivieri-Pagagnotti, probably did visit Bruges and may have been involved. It might also have been facilitated by the Bruges branch of the Medici bank. The saints in the wings, John the Baptist and Lawrence, have no obvious connection with the Pagagnotti, although Saint John is the patron saint of Florence. Several members of the Medici family were named Giovanni and Lorenzo, however, and in 1491 Benedetto addressed Lorenzo the Magnificent as his benefactor; perhaps they are a compliment to his patrons.