● On view now — 112 Northern Renaissance
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · verified August 2026
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
This panel originally formed the right half of a diptych, a hinged two-paneled painting used for private worship. The missing left panel probably depicted the Virgin and Child. The entire composition showed the monk, with his prayer book open, kneeling in an interior before Mary and the infant Jesus. This panel is very similar to another painting of a monk now in the National Gallery (London) by Gerard David. Although we do not know the monk's name, he must have lived in the Netherlandish city of Bruges, because behind him appear two of that city's most famous towers: on the left is that of the Onze Lieve Vrouw (Our Dear Lady) Church; the Cathedral of the Saviour is on the right. Also, his simple gray garment and tonsure indicate that he likely belonged to an Augustinian religious community.
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French Painter — Portrait of a Monk in Prayer
Hugo van der Goes — A Benedictine Monk
Portrait of a Man
anonymous — Saint Dionysius the Areopagite in Prayer
Antonello da Messina — Right panel San Cassiano Altarpiece w
Hans Memling — Portrait of a Man
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen — Saint Matthias (?) and a Don
Rogier van der Weyden — Man in Prayer
Maso di Banco — Saint Anthony of Padua
Bartolomé Bermejo — Saint Augustine
Jan van Scorel — Haarlem Citizen
Petrus Christus — Portrait of a Carthusian
