To celebrate its opening in 2025, BRON Research Center (Musea Brugge), in collaboration with the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels), is organizing a two-day conference on new and ongoing research on the oeuvre of Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling.
About
In 2023 the first phase of the research project Closer to Memling commenced. Closer to Memling is a project initiated by Musea Brugge in collaboration with other institutions to thoroughly examine the nine works by Hans Memling in its collection. The aim of this project and conference is to contextualize previous studies and stimulate new research on the painter in an interdisciplinary exchange between leading and new scholars in the field.
Practical info
Dates: 20-21 November 2025
Location: Auditorium BRUSK, Musea Brugge (Dijver, 12)
Language: English
Deadline for registrations: 13 November 2025
Registration
Tickets: €125 / €50 for students* available on the conference page.
Conference (walking) dinner: €55
*In order to register for the student fee, please send proof of your enrollment at a university to symposium@brugge.be. After validation you will receive a unique discount code to register for the student fee of €50.
Program
Listed below are the sessions and speakers of the conference. The full program and more information can be found on the conference page
Session 1
- To Memling or not to Memling-past, present and future of Memling studies – Anna Koopstra (Musea Brugge)
- The Bruges commissioners of Hans Memling – Joannes van den Maagdenberg (Fondation Périer-d’leteren/Université Libre de Bruxelles/Ghent University)
- Context of the portrait of Gilles Joye – Hendrik Callewier (KULeuven/State Archives Bruges)
Session 2
- Unpredictable ambitions: Memling’s last judgment in perspective – Till-Holger Borchert (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen)
- The draft commission of the triptych for the “Badia Fiesolana” in the light of the historical and humanistic events of Florence – Fabio Marcelli (University of Perugia)
- Fragment of the Chain Reaction: What Michel Sittow Learned in Memling’s Workshop – Oskar Rojewski (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid)
Session 3
- Window and Mirror in Hans Memling’s Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove – Sandra Hindriks (Universität Wien)
- Hans Memling’s Artistic Inspirations from Germany: Diversity of Media and Vernacular Devotional Practices – Miyuki Yamagata (Kyoto University)
- The Memling Carpet: Controversy at the Foundation of Carpet History – Jeffrey Taylor (Kaunas University of Applied Sciences)
Session 4
- Leaving no trace behind? Hans Memling in Cologne – Martin Hanßen (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena)
- Artistic Crossroads: Unraveling the Parallels Between Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes – Erik Eising (Gemäldegalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)
- New Analysis of the Melbourne Man of Sorrows – Cameron Hurst (University of Melbourne)
Session 5
- From Van Eyck to Memling – the expressive power of oil paint – Marie Postec (KIK-IRPA, Brussels)
- Hans Memling’s Ursula Shrine: New Insights from the IOHANNES Project – Melis Avkiran (KIK-IRPA, Brussels)
- Memling’s Manoeuvres: Ins and outs of the Blue – Carol Pottasch and Jan Bustin (Mauritshuis, The Hague and Independent)
- New technical analysis of the Portrait of a Young Woman – Sofia Hennen and Joyce Klein Koerkamp (Musea Brugge)
Scientific Committee
- Dr. des. Melis Avkiran (KIK-IRPA/UCLouvain)
- Dr. Bart Fransen (KIK-IRPA)
- Dr. Christina Currie (KIK-IRPA)
- Joyce Klein Koerkamp (Musea Brugge)
- Dr. Anna Koopstra (Musea Brugge)
- Anne van Oosterwijk (Musea Brugge)