Book Review: The Master of Bruges
Terence Morgan, The Master of Bruges. Pan Books, London, 2011. ISBN 978-0-230-74413-4 (paperback)
I would like to thank Heather, who told me in 2011 about this novel. I bought it the next day and enjoyed it tremendously. I first posted a review on the website of the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society, but to commemorate Hans Memling’s death on 11 August 1494, here is a slightly updated version.
This novel purports to be the memoirs of The Master of Bruges, the painter Hans Memling, who lived and worked in Burgundy though he was born in Germany. From December 1460 to his death in 1494, we share Memling’s loves and adventures. Through him, we meet many of the people who are of significance to anyone interested in the late medieval period. Obviously, the Burgundian court of the time features strongly: Charles the Bold, his wife Margaret of York, his daughter Marie and later her husband Maximilian.
However, the author weaves the fact that Edward IV and his brother Richard spend their exile during the readeption of Henry VI 1470/71 in Burgundy into his story. He has the brothers and their small circle of friends staying at Memling’s house for a few days. Thus the painter becomes directly involved with the Yorkist court. To finish a triptych for Sir John Donne, he travels to England, arriving in late 1482 and staying until 1485. When he first arrives, he is also commissioned to paint Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville as well as Richard of Gloucester.
The reader then experiences with Memling the eventful period from Edward IV’s death, through Richard III’s reign until Henry VII takes the throne. During this time, Richard as well as his nephews freely share their thoughts with the painter.
The story is interwoven with short chapters, where Memling explains aspects of artistic technique, which are reflected in the incidents described in the chapters following.
All the main characters in the novel are historical persons and most of the paintings mentioned still exist. Memling really did paint a triptych for Sir John Donne of Kidwelly (d.1503). It has been dated to the period 1479–80 and now hangs in the National Gallery in London. There is indeed a suggestion that Memling had painted portraits of both Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.[i] A portrait of Richard could be seen as a companion painting to that of Edward IV, so Memling would have had to paint him, too.
The story is a fast-paced and entertaining read. Any Ricardian reader will be pleased to hear that it is strongly sympathetic to Richard III. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can only recommend it. It also made me interested in finding out more about Hans Memling and his work. A book I could not put down when I first bought it and re-read it a few times since.
[i] Borchert, T.-H., Memling’s Portraits. Ludion, Thames & Hudson, Ghent, Amsterdam, 2005, pp. 55-56
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